Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou full undercard: complete list of fights before the main event

The Riyadh Season just keeps giving this year, with one more giant of heavyweight boxing as Anthony Joshua continues on his road toward rebuilding his career as he faces Francis Ngannou.

Let’s be blunt, Ngannou would not have been anywhere on the radar of the former unified heavyweight champ were it not for that Tyson Fury bout. A surprisingly good performance by Ngannou showed that the former MMA champ has the chin and toughness to mix it up with the big boys.

If Anthony Joshua has taken Ngannou seriously in his training camp, something that Fury clearly did not, then this should be a decent night’s work for AJ. But if he lets his foot off the gas, even for a second, then he can be made to pay by Ngannou, and in a big way.

As a ten-round bout, the headline is more of an exhibition than a true test, but the undercard gives back what that fight may lack. In spades.

Here is the full fight card for the evening. (* denotes title holder)

This card will offer a couple of novices, including Tyson Fury’s younger brother Roman, a cruiserweight, who will face Czech novice Martin Svarc in what will be Fury’s fourth professional bout. Both young fighters are undefeated and look to be fairly evenly matched.

Further up the card, Mexican champion Rey Vargas will defend his WBC World Featherweight title against Liverpool, England’s Nick Ball, who is 19-0 with 11 knockouts and currently holds the WBC Silver Featherweight title.

Ball is one of the best up and coming fighters around, with power, speed, and outstanding athleticism. While Vargas is a two-weight champ, he is also on shaky footing, coming off a decision loss to O’Shaquie Foster, and has not defended the WBC Featherweight belt since winning it via split decision against Mark Magsayo nearly two years ago.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Vargas is a pushover, however. As all Mexican champs can, Vargas is adept at adapting to different styles and can pull a win out of nowhere. Ball should edge this one in a tough battle, but either way, this is one that you won’t want to miss!

And then the chief support for the evening will be a bout that in the eyes of many deserves to be the main event. Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang will collide with Joseph Parker.

Zhang is 26-1-1 and currently the WBO World Interim champion after completely dismantling Joe Joyce, twice. Parker at 34-3-0 is the former WBO World Heavyweight champion and looks better now than he did back then.

Zhang has had the big money fights elude him for most of his career, mainly due to his being a southpaw. He has become a force that is impossible to skip now, but it has come rather late in his career, with time at age 40 not on his side.

Parker became world champ perhaps too early in his career, and lost two title fights back to back, first seeing Anthony Joshua strip him of his WBO belt and then losing a stinker to Dillian Whyte on the back of it. Since then, Joseph Parker has reinvented himself, relocating from his native New Zealand to London and switching trainers from Kevin Barry to Andy Lee, he has been incredibly active, fighting four times last year and capping it with a dominant performance against Deontay Wilder.

This fight has everything you could want and has a strong claim on being the fight of the evening. The main event. And we find it hard to disagree with that. Parker should outbox Zhang and if he keeps his feet moving he could run circles around Big Bang. If he doesn’t, however, if he stands and trades, then Zhang will lean that heavy frame on him and wear him down. This fight is a cracker!