Anthony Joshua and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will go to war on 8 March in Saudi Arabia – with a the chance to fight Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title waiting for the winner.

Joshua vs Ngannou was officially unveiled on Monday evening with the latter fighting for just the second time in a boxing ring having given Fury an almighty scare in Saudi Arabia last October on his professional debut.

He will take on two-time heavyweight champion Joshua in Riyadh in March, just three weeks after Fury and Usyk meet to crown the division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis 25 years ago.

Those two fights will serve to define the heavyweight division and possibly set up something even bigger for later in 2024. Turki Alalshikh, the head of Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) and the man responsible for bringing together boxing’s biggest names for the recent shows in the region, made it clear at Monday’s press conference that he wants the winners of those respective bouts to collide.