Anthony Joshua was well rewarded for his second-round knockout win over Cameroonian boxer Francis Ngannou in the main event of the “Knockout Chaos” card in Saudi Arabia in the early hours of Saturday morning (Nigerian time).
Joshua won his fourth straight fight with a KO victory over Ngannou in Riyadh.
After securing consecutive victories in 2023 with wins over Jermaine Franklin in April and Robert Helenius with a seventh-round knockout in August, Joshua cruised to a fifth-round technical knockout win over Otto Wallin in December, who had been expected to be a formidable opponent, especially with his southpaw stance.
Joshua has now secured knockout wins over two fighters who took Tyson Fury the distance in Wallin and Ngannou.
The British-Nigerian was already on hand to get $40m (N63.7bn) for the fight but due to his win by a KO, Joshua received an extra $10m (N15.9bn) making a toal of $50m (N79bn) while Ngannou pocketed $20m (N31.8bn).
Popular musican, Drake who is accustomed to placing large wagers on high-profile sports games and losing most of those bets was on the losing side again after Joshua defeated former UFC champion Ngannou as the Grammy winner lost a $615,000 (N950m).
If the wager had been successful, the Canadian-born rapper would have won just less than $2m (N3.1bn).
Drake has been known as a curse to athletes as whenever he bets on them, most end up on the losing side. Therefore, athletes prefer he doesn’t bet on them and celebrate loudly when they are able to win despite him betting on them like Israel Adesanya did when he beat Pereira in 2023.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury has hailed Joshua following his victory over Ngannou with Joshua also expressing readiness to face the Brit after the undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury, who watched the game, said he has a ‘bigger fish to fry’ against Usky and stated that he is available to face Joshua after his rematch in October.
“Me and Usyk have got an undisputed world heavyweight championship coming up. He (Joshua) just had a show fight in Saudi Arabia, which is fantastic for the show, but for the actual real boxing, it is me and Usyk who fight for the number one and number two positions for the undisputed championship of the world,” Fury said.
“So that (the fight with AJ) is on the back burner for now. Great performance from AJ, fantastic, but unfortunately I have got bigger fish to fry in Usyk on May 18, and then we have a rematch in October. So, after that, if he is still available and I’m still available, let’s get it on.”
Fury is scheduled to face Oleksandr Usyk on May 18 in a historic, undisputed showdown, with the winner potentially facing Joshua in the future.
In the post-match conference, Joshua expressed readiness to face the winner of Fury vs Usyk for a chance back at the world heavyweight titles. “I just want to fight… and that next fight I want is the winner of Fury vs Usyk,” he said.
