Eddie Hearn, promoter for former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, was very interested in making a fight with MMA veteran Francis Ngannou.

Ngannou came close to derailing WBC world champion Tyson Fury back in October, when they traded punches in a non-title crossover boxing match.

The former UFC champion was making his professional debut, and shocked experts with his performance.

Ngannou dropped Fury in the third round, and then gave the unbeaten boxer a lot of trouble throughout the fight.

In the end, Fury came away with a razor-close ten round split decision win.

Hearn reached out to Ngannou's team - but the British promoter never heard back. He believes Ngannou will remain on the boxing shelf until a rematch with Fury receives the green light. 

Fury is scheduled to face WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA world champion Oleksandr Usyk in an undisputed fight on February 17.

“I reached out to Francis Ngannou’s team and I said, ‘Just to let you know, we’re up for discussing the Francis Ngannou [vs.] AJ fight. I never heard back from them. So I think probably, knowing the business, I would say that probably Fury-Ngannou is almost probably agreed to post Fury-Usyk already," Fury told The MMA Hour.

“[Ngannou will] feel like, after that first fight, he can beat Fury, but there’s no point [in boxing non-stars] — he can really lose to anybody in the top 50 at heavyweight, so you’ve got to cash in at this point, and there’s really only three fights that cash into the levels that he will want [Fury, Joshua, or Deontay Wilder]. So I’d guess, and you might know better, Francis Ngannou will fight in the PFL or wherever in spring, summer of 2024, and then he’ll fight Tyson Fury at the end of [2024]. I would think that would be the mindset of the team.”