{"id":294122,"date":"2023-11-04T10:25:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T10:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=294122"},"modified":"2023-11-04T10:25:03","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T10:25:03","slug":"saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia plotting &apos;HUGE&apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Saudi Arabia is still plotting a &#8216;HUGE&#8217; December 23 fight&#8230; with Francis Ngannou set to headline after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk&#8217;s blockbuster clash was pushed back until February<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Francis Ngannou is likely to headline the December 23 show in Saudi Arabia<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>An announcement about the fight is expected at some point in the next week<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Eddie Hearn reacts to Fury vs Ngannou on THE HOOK &#8211; our new boxing podcast<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Saudi Arabia is still reportedly planning a gigantic December 23 show with Francis Ngannou as the headliner &#8211; even without Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The latter two had been set to fight on that date but Fury emerged battered and bruised after his controversial win against Ngannou\u00a0in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fury was even knocked down and now needs more time to recover than expected after his narrow scorecard win.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, Ngannou looks set to take their place at the top of the bill just before Christmas and an announcement is expected next week, according to BoxingNews.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker are among the names rumoured to be possible opponents for the former UFC champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/08\/77395001-12709695-image-a-6_1699088336394.jpg\" height=\"463\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Francis Ngannou is reportedly set to headline the December 23 event in Saudi Arabia\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/08\/77395015-12709695-image-a-7_1699088371378.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were originally supposed to but will now meet in February<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/08\/77395011-12709695-image-a-8_1699088398238.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Gypsy King needs longer to recover than expected after a bruising contest with Ngannou<\/p>\n<p>Boxing News&#8217; report also states that Martin Bakole and Moses Itauma are expected to be invited back after impressing the Saudis with their respective knockouts.<\/p>\n<p>Usyk and Fury were originally take part in the December 23 event, mid-way through the Riyadh season and the former&#8217;s promoter said that the Gypsy King &#8216;cannot escape that&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>After his fight with Ngannou, with nasty purple bruising around his battered left eye,\u00a0Fury insisted: &#8216;I&#8217;ve only got some surface bruising.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There was a little bit of a head clash and a few punches but nothing major, no serious injuries.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Morecambe&#8217;s WBC heavyweight king had agreed a deal with the WBA, IBF and WBO to contest all the belts.<\/p>\n<p>When asked flat-out if December 23 was still on the cards, he said: &#8216;I leave all that to my team, I don&#8217;t get involved&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/09\/77395025-12709695-Usyk_and_Fury_were_supposed_to_fight_for_all_the_belts_in_Decemb-a-25_1699090741281.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Usyk and Fury were supposed to fight for all the belts in December but that will have to wait<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2023\/10\/25\/The%20Hook_Promo_Desktop.636.png\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/boxing\/article-12709695\/Saudi-Arabia-plotting-HUGE-December-23-fight-Francis-Ngannou-set-headline-Tyson-Fury-Oleksandr-Usyks-blockbuster-clash-pushed-February.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Saudi Arabia is still plotting a &#8216;HUGE&#8217; December 23 fight&#8230; with Francis Ngannou set to headline after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk&#8217;s blockbuster clash was <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/\" title=\"Saudi Arabia plotting &amp;apos;HUGE&amp;apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Saudi Arabia plotting &amp;apos;HUGE&amp;apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia plotting &amp;apos;HUGE&amp;apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saudi Arabia is still plotting a &#8216;HUGE&#8217; December 23 fight&#8230; with Francis Ngannou set to headline after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk&#8217;s blockbuster clash was [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-04T10:25:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Saudi-Arabia-plotting-HUGE-December-23-fight-with-Ngannou-headlining.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/\",\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia plotting &apos;HUGE&apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining - Sportstoft\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-04T10:25:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-04T10:25:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Boxing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/boxing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia plotting &apos;HUGE&apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sportstoft\",\"description\":\"sportstoft.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Jeanette\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeanette\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saudi Arabia plotting &apos;HUGE&apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining - Sportstoft","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saudi Arabia plotting &apos;HUGE&apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining - Sportstoft","og_description":"Saudi Arabia is still plotting a &#8216;HUGE&#8217; December 23 fight&#8230; with Francis Ngannou set to headline after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk&#8217;s blockbuster clash was [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/","og_site_name":"Sportstoft","article_published_time":"2023-11-04T10:25:03+00:00","author":"Jeanette","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Saudi-Arabia-plotting-HUGE-December-23-fight-with-Ngannou-headlining.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeanette","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/","name":"Saudi Arabia plotting &apos;HUGE&apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining - Sportstoft","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-04T10:25:03+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-04T10:25:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/saudi-arabia-plotting-huge-december-23-fight-with-ngannou-headlining\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Boxing","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/boxing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Saudi Arabia plotting &apos;HUGE&apos; December 23 fight with Ngannou headlining"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/","name":"Sportstoft","description":"sportstoft.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Jeanette","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeanette"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}