Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou live results and analysis

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou returns to the boxing ring to face former unified and two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in a 10-round fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday.

Ngannou, 0-1 in boxing, made his in-ring debut against lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and lost a close split decision, even leaving Fury with a left hook in the third round.

Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) defeated Wladimir Klitschko in April 2107 to win the IBF and WBA heavyweight titles. Joshua added the WBO belt by defeating Joseph Parker a year later, but then lost the titles to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019. He regained them in the rematch six months later and made one defense before losing back-to-back fights against Oleksandr Usyk. .

Joshua was expected to face Deontay Wilder, but Wilder lost a unanimous decision to Parker in December, opening the door for Ngannou to intervene.

Also on the card, Zhilei Zhang defends his WBO interim heavyweight title against Parker and Rey Vargas puts his WBC featherweight belt on the line against Nick Ball.

Earlier in the night, Israil Madrimov defeated Magomed Kurbanov to win the vacant WBA “super” junior middleweight title.

Follow Mike Coppinger and Nick Parkinson as they recap all the action: