Anthony Joshua was joined by Cristiano Ronaldo at ringside to observe his rivals Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk go to battle of their heavyweight title combat in Saudi Arabia.
Two-time world champion Joshua arrived on the Kingdom Enviornment in Riyadh on Saturday night time to take his seat alongside soccer legend Ronaldo forward of the historic undisputed showdown.
Former Manchester United, Actual Madrid and Juventus star Ronaldo has frequently attended boxing exhibits in Saudi Arabia since becoming a member of Saudi Professional League facet Al-Nassr in January 2023, watching the motion alongside the likes of UFC star Conor McGregor at earlier playing cards.
Joshua joined him ringside on this event with the 2 seen deep in dialogue throughout the undercard motion.
Fury, the WBC champion, and Usyk, who holds the IBF, WBO and WBA titles, are preventing to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
Whereas a rematch between the 2 is anticipated to comply with later this 12 months, Joshua’s focus is firmly on preventing the winner.
A bout between Joshua and Fury has been years within the making with their Battle of Britain probably the most eagerly-anticipated fights within the sport.
Joshua would even be desirous to avenge his two defeats to Usyk, having misplaced his world titles to the Ukrainian in 2021, shedding once more of their rematch a 12 months later.
With Fury and Usyk more likely to meet once more in October no matter occurs tonight, Joshua is anticipated to return to the ring in September for a spectacular present again at Wembley Stadium, the place he has not fought since his knockout victory over Alexander Povetkin in 2018.
He’s anticipated to combat both Daniel Dubois or Filip Hrgovic – who will combat on the Queensberry vs Matchroom card on 1 June.
Ought to Joshua come by way of that combat unscathed, preventing the winner of Fury vs Usyk 2 will certainly await in early 2025.
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