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One judge scored it 114-112 for Vargas, another 116-110 for Ball while the third had it 113-113. The announcement is met by a chorus of boos from the Kingdom Arena crowd that only rises in volume when Vargas is interviewed in the ring during the aftermath.
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Next up: a delicious heavyweight scrap between WBO interim champion Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker, who held the WBO’s primary belt from 2016 through 2018. The main event between Joshua and Ngannou will follow.
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Ball knocks down Rey Vargas in featherweight title fight.”,”caption”:”Nick Ball knocks down Rey Vargas in WBC featherweight title fight. Knocked down.”,”credit” :”Photo: Andrew Couldridge/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1709937589000 ,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”17.39 EST “,”blockLastUpdated”:1709938031000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”17.47 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1709938032000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”17.47 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”: “17.47”,”title “:”Vargas retains WBC featherweight title by split draw”,”Contributor”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Friday 8 March 2024 18.00 EST”,”SecondaryDateLine”:”First published date Friday 8 March 2024 17.20 EST”},{“id”:”65eb91998f0839a0970b64e3″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Hello and welcome to Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena for tonight’s crossover match between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou. It’s been billed as the Knockout Chaos: a scheduled 10-round bout under boxing rules between the former two-time unified heavyweight champion amnd a former UFC champion with exactly one professional boxing match under his belt.
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Joshua (27-3, 24 KO), at 34 years old, has won three straight bouts after back-to-back defeats ot Oleksandr Usyk and is still angling for another run at a heavyweight belt. But the 2012 Olympic gold medalist has put those plans on hold for a highly lucrative date with the 37-year-old Ngannou, who defied all expectations five months ago with a disputed split-decision loss to lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, scoring the only knockdown of the evening along the way. Fury may have won the fight, but Ngannou clearly won the event.
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That automatically makes Ngannou (0-1, 0 KO) an awfully intriguing proposition entering tonight’s sophomore outing. But was Ngannou really that good against Fury, or was Fury that poor in overlooking the Cameroonian neophyte? We’ll have answers soon enough.
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We’re around an hour from the main event ringwalks. Plenty to come between now and then.
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important events
A special cameo appears at ringside. A Portuguese soccer manager has taken his seat for tonight’s battle.
Vargas defends WBC featherweight title with split draw
Rey Vargas just retained his WBC featherweight title After a controversial split draw with Liverpool’s Nick Ball, the undefeated prospect roared from a quiet start, scoring two knockdowns in the later rounds.
One judge scored it 114-112 for Vargas, another 116-110 for Ball, and a third 113-113. The announcement drew a chorus of boos from the Kingdom Arena crowd, which only got louder when Vargas was interviewed in the ring in the aftermath.
Next up is a delicious heavyweight showdown between interim WBO champion Jirayi Zhang and Joseph Parker, who held the WBO primary belt from 2016 to 2018. The main event between Joshua and Ngannou continues.
preamble
Hello. Welcome to Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena for tonight’s crossover fight between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou. The match is being promoted as “Knockout Chaos.” It’s a 10-round bout scheduled under boxing rules between a former two-time unified heavyweight champion and a former UFC champion who has only had one professional boxing match.
The 34-year-old Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) is on a three-fight winning streak after back-to-back wins over Oleksandr Usyk and is still looking to get another shot at the heavyweight belt. However, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist postponed those plans due to a highly lucrative date with 37-year-old Ngannou. Ngannou defied all expectations five months ago in a controversial split decision loss to lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who scored his only point. Evening knockdown on the way. Fury may have won the fight, but Ngannou clearly won the event.
This automatically makes Ngannou (0-1, 0 KOs) a very interesting candidate for tonight’s second fight. But was Ngannou really that good against Fury, or was Fury that bad at overlooking the Cameroonian newcomer? You’ll know the answer right away.
The main event, the ring walk, is about an hour away. A lot can happen between now and the future.
Brian will be here soon. In the meantime, here’s a look at Donald McRae’s fight in Riyadh tonight.
