Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou press conference LIVE: Latest updates ahead of fight in Saudi Arabia

Joshua and Ngannou have now joined Ball, Vargas, Parker and Zhang on stage!

Now here come Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, the latter of the two promoters emerging to “Smooth Operator”. Apt.

Nick Ball emerges to The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love”. A certified classic, and a great reminder that this week’s fight night is on FRIDAY, not Saturday!

Muscle memory means a lot of us have had to swiftly correct ourselves after saying or writing that incorrectly this week!

A bit of a wait for the main-event press conference here...

It should be under way shortly...

And here we go!

Before Joshua and Ngannou headline Friday’s card, Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker will clash in the co-main event.

Zhang, 40, will defend the WBO interim heavyweight title against New Zealand’s Parker, who stunned Deontay Wilder via decision in December.

Zhang stopped Joe Joyce – who previously knocked out Parker – twice in 2023, winning then retaining the WBO interim belt across those fights.

Before Zhang vs Parker on Friday, Rey Vargas will defend the WBC featherweight belt against Nick Ball.

That concludes the undercard press conference! Joshua, Ngannou, Parker, Zhang, Ball and Vargas will be out in a few moments...

The unbeaten pair of Magomed Kurbanov and Israil Madrimov will clash for the vacant WBA super-welterweight title on Friday.

Madrimov very much looks like Gennady Golovkin! He fights out of Uzbekistan, while Kurbanov represents Russia.

England’s Mark Chamberlain was added to this card after impressing Al-Sheikh repeatedly in recent fights, and he faces Welsh opponent Gavin Gwynne at lightweight.

Not a ton said between the pair other than, ‘I’m going to win.’

Kevin Lerena, who tested Daniel Dubois in late 2022, is also in action on Friday. The South African takes on Australia’s Justis Huni at heavyweight.

Lerena has been training with Tyson Fury ahead of this one.

English super-welterweight Louis Greene is on the mic now, discussing his bout with compatriot Jack McGann.

“He likes to get in and get stuck in, I think it’s gonna be a good fight.”

McGann: “This is definitely a step up, it’s gonna be the toughest test of my career, but I believe that will bring the best out of me, too.”

Saudi Arabia’s own Ziyad Almaayouf references Al-Sheikh as the “No 1 most influential person in boxing”.

Has he been reading our rankings? Al-Sheikh was quick to share our list in January, with Conor McGregor among those paying respect to the Saudi adviser...