Eddie Hearn HAS held talks with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou

Eddie Hearn admitted to holding talks with Francis Ngannou, and thinks the former UFC heavyweight champion should face Anthony Joshua in his first professional boxing bout. 

Hearn insisted that the best way for Ngannou to make a splash in the boxing world is for his representatives to cash in on his ‘unknown’ quality, having never fought at professional level. 

It had been speculated- a bout that has — with . 

Hearn — who represents two-time heavyweight boxing world champion Joshua — told  that he has spoken to Ngannou and if he was involved with the former UFC star, he would be keen to face Joshua.

‘He didn’t go too deeply into stuff, but I respect him greatly for the way he’s handled his career to a point where now he’s in a fantastic position,’ Hearn began. ‘He has a new ocean to navigate now, which is a lot more rocky than the world of MMA and UFC in that he’s in the Wild West of boxing.

‘We’ll see what happens. For me, we would love to be involved with his career. The Anthony Joshua fight is probably among the biggest fights that can be made in any sport. Obviously the Tyson Fury fight is there for him as well.

‘I was pretty captivated by him. I’m not a massive MMA fan, but I still respect what he’s achieved there. But I just found him to be an outstanding gentleman. We’ll see how it goes.’

The Matchroom promoter also insisted that the biggest financial draw would come for the first fight of the unknown quantity’s career, as the speculation to see whether he could compete with the best the boxing world has to offer. 

And perhaps unsurprisingly his prize fighter was the headline fight that Hearn insists Ngannou should be targeting on his debut in the ring.  

‘I mean, I think he should fight Joshua. These guys have a mountain to climb in terms of the challenge of fighting an elite boxer, but to go through the process of having two or three fights — one fight you might look bad because you’re learning, so the value really is the unknown. 

‘What happens when two titans from the world of fight sports collide? The UFC heavyweight world champion Ngannou and the two-time world heavyweight boxing champion Joshua. The complete unknown. 

‘The unknown of how good is Ngannou? We know he punches extremely hard, if he lands one on Joshua, is it the greatest upset of all time? Or will AJ completely steamroll him and you’ll see Ngannou get knocked out? That’s the attraction of that fight, the unknown.

‘So for me, if I’m representing Ngannou, I want to make sure that this next move, I maximize every dollar that’s out there.’ 

Nagannou left the UFC after the end of his contract as the reigning heavyweight division champion — a title that has now been vacated in his absence —

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And Hearn believes that the first fight in Ngannou’s boxing career is so important, with the fight negotiation process far more treacherous than that of his previous sport.

The infamous promoter insisted that a boxer can waste ‘six months of the year’ with contracts falling through at the last minute, and negotiations often continuing for several months. 

Joshua and Fury notably looked set to finally turn their rivalry to a bout inside the ring in 2022, only for talks to collapse and leave Joshua ‘losing his faith’ with the sport, according to Hearn. 

Joshua has not fought since losing a second consecutive fight against current world champion Oleksandr Usyk in August 2022, and lost won in December 2020.