It’s an absolute marathon of a card tonight, likely to last over nine hours and featuring 10 fights overall.
The first fight of the card will be at 3:20pm UK time, which is 6:20pm Saudi time. The fights will run through the afternoon and evening with Zhilei Zhang versus Joseph Parker to start at around 10:20pm UK time.
The big one, Joshua against Ngannou, will get underway at around 11:20pm UK time.
Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou start time is revealed
British fight fans are set for a late night after the start time for Anthony Joshua’s showdown with Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia was confirmed.
The winning combo from Novytskyi included an illegal shot to the back of the head but it was only a matter of time anyway.
He moves onto bigger and better things. That was actually the first time Torres had been stopped in his six defeats, but he was poor.
Ziyad Almaayouf versus Christian Flores is next.
RESULT: Novytskyi stops Torres in the third round
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Another good left-right combo from the Ukranian early on. He may have hurt Torres at the end of the last round and the underdog hits the canvas, but he’s pulled down.
He’s walked onto a lot of punches here.
This time he goes down! Nice combination, Torres shakes his head on his knees, and the referee waves it off. Oxygen for the American in the aftermath.
About as one-sided as it gets.
ROUND 2 – Torres continues to struggle
Torres has come out swinging in the second round but he’s absolutely all over the place, I’ll be honest. He can’t get close.
Novytskyi throws an upper cut in this round and it’s another of domination for the six-foot-six fighter.
The jab as impactful too. 20-18 it is.
ROUND 1 – Novytskyi dominating early on
The bell rings for round one then and it’s a bit of a slow start from both fighters but there’s a lot of time. Early control from Novytskyi with a few straight left jabs.
Torres has a huge height disadvantage and also with his reach. He’s takes a few shots to the face, a few body shots, and Torres is on the back foot despite going for a big shot himself.
It’s a matter of time. Could be the next round.
Joshua now has a fight to analyse
Haye has just mentioned that Joshua will now have a fight of Ngannou’s to assess in terms of analysis. Fury won’t have had that.
Ngannou said it too to us earlier this week. I wonder how much of an impact that has.
Anyway, we’re about to get underway with the first fight of the night. The stadium is empty, but we will start nonetheless.
The coverage is underway!
David Haye and Ariel Helwani are on punditry for DAZN ahead of the prelims.
Strap in everyone, because it’s about to get busy.
‘The liklihood of hearing the final bell is slim,’ Haye says.
Novytskyi vs Juan Torres first up
DAZN’s coverage of the prelim fights gets underway at 3pm UK time and we will start with Andrii Novytskyi versus Juan Torres in a heavyweight contest.
Ukranian Novytskyi is 28 and undefeated from nine fights. Torres is 37 and 11 for five from 16 fights, though is on a seven-match win-streak.
The size difference is quite laughable.
There will be eight, three minute rounds in that one.
What next for Joshua?
The predictions seem quite split for tonight. The classic boxer, or the MMA powerhouse?
Joshua is the favourite. But what if it doesn’t go to plan for him?
Where would he go next? Facing Usyk – likely ever again – would be off the cars. A bout with Fury would be possible but unlikely.
Wilder? Whyte? Retirement…?
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