Francis Ngannou is pursuing another high profile bout in the boxing ring.

‘The Predator’ returned to mixed martial arts in October after a two-fight sojourn to the sweet science, defeating Renan Ferreira by first-round TKO in what was debut fight for the PFL that topped its ‘Battle of the Giants’ fight card in Saudi Arabia on October 19. The fight returned the Cameroonian powerhouse to the win column after boxing defeats to Tyson Fury (narrowly) and Anthony Joshua (comprehensively).

But despite a 0-2 record in the sport, Ngannou wants to pursue his first win in a battle that would pit two of the hardest punchers of their respective sports on a direct collision course.

“I will do boxing next,” Ngannou confirmed to Sportsbook Review, as noted by The Mirror, adding that his desire to make this particular matchup a reality is because “there’s an 80 percent chance that somebody will go to sleep.”

He said: “It will be one or the other. Maybe not in his past two fights, but Deontay Wilder is known as a guy that knocks everybody out or tries to knock you out.

“I’m going against that guy, and I myself can knock someone out. Deep inside me there is a little bit of ego, like I know I hit harder. I’m saying from my experience that we will have that ego that we both want to prove ‘no, it’s me [who hits harder]. Who is the biggest hitter between you and Deontay? Those sorts of conversations are popping around a little bit and even though you think you don’t care about it, it sticks somewhere in your mind.”

Former WBC champion Wilder has on numerous occasions indicated that he would be interested in fighting Ngannou, saying last year: “Even since I’ve been off, there’s been a lot of offers coming in, a lot of different countries. Even with Francis.”

As for if and when, a lot will require arranging before a bout between Ngannou and Wilder becomes a reality. PFL head Donn Davis said in recent weeks that he expects Ngannou to fight twice in 2025, once in boxing and once in MMA.

“We’re working on options,” he told Sky Sports. “I think Deontay Wilder is one that we’ve talked about, that he has talked about. Some sort of mixed rules or alternating rounds or just taking one aspect away from MMA rules. I think Deontay Wilder is particularly interesting but you have to get the fans to understand it and it be a legitimate sport.”