Anthony Joshua was well rewarded for his second-round knockout win over Cameroonian boxer Francis Ngannou in the main event of the “Knockout Chaos” card in Saudi Arabia in the early hours of Saturday morning (Nigerian time).
Joshua won his fourth straight fight with the KO victory over Ngannou in Riyadh.
After securing consecutive victories in 2023 with wins over Jermaine Franklin in April and Robert Helenius with a seventh-round knockout in August, Joshua cruised to a fifth-round technical knockout win over Otto Wallin in December, who had been expected to be a formidable opponent, especially with his southpaw stance.
Joshua has now secured knockout wins over two fighters who took Tyson Fury the distance in Wallin and Ngannou.
The British-Nigerian was already on hand to get $40m (N63.7bn) for the fight but due to his win by a KO, Joshua received an extra $10m (N15.9bn) making a total of $50m (N79bn) while Ngannou pocketed $20m (N31.8bn).
Popular musician, Drake who is accustomed to placing large wagers on high-profile sports games and losing most of those bets was on the losing side again after Joshua defeated former UFC champion Ngannou as the Grammy winner lost a $615,000 (N950m).
If the wager had been successful, the Canadian-born rapper would have won just less than $2m (N3.1bn).