Francis Ngannou appears to have his most-willing big-name boxing opponent.
Top Heavyweight boxer, Deontay Wilder (43-2-1), made a special guest appearance at one of Professional Fighters League’s (PFL) Atlanta, Georgia events earlier this month. Ngannou has been seeking the right name for his potential professional boxing debut before making his mixed martial arts (MMA) return and PFL debut in 2024.
Ngannou wasn’t present for the same event as Wilder, but the pair have been working on possibly working something out inside the ring.
“He knows what the deal is,” Wilder told The Schmo. “Francis, you hear me, you know what’s up (laughs). I was at the PFL to enjoy some fighting, to shake a couple hands with a couple of people, and talk business as well. Francis is one of those names that definitely came up and that keep coming up. So, hopefully, we can get something under schedule in the near future that we can present to the people and make this fight become a reality.”
Meanwhile, sticking within the realm of the boxing world, Wilder, 37, has been negotiating a match with Andy Ruiz Jr. Wilder feels the longer time goes on without something happening, the more Ruiz will miss out as Wilder has several more options (as evidenced by Ngannou’s interest).
“Andy, he got a lot of stuff going on,” Wilder said. “I think one of the main things is his father steps in the way of a lot of things. They talk about money and this and that, I haven’t talked nothing about any money, I never talked about no percentages. They’re putting me out like I want all this and all that. I don’t know nothing about what’s in the pot or anything like that.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
