Anthony Joshua survived a torrid opening round, in which he was floored twice, to stop Kristian Prenga in the second round of his comeback fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.
The British heavyweight was fighting for the first time since surviving a car crash in Nigeria last December that claimed the lives of his close friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.
Joshua carried the names of both men on his chest as he walked to the ring alongside his entire team, in a quiet show of unity.
The canvas bore their names too, alongside the words “My Brother’s Keeper.”
His return could scarcely have begun in worse fashion. Just 20 seconds into the fight, a right uppercut from underdog Prenga sent Joshua crashing to the canvas, stunning the arena.
Joshua smiled as he climbed back to his feet, but Prenga, who had arrived with 20 knockouts from 20 wins despite little profile among boxing’s hardcore followers, sensed an opening.
A left uppercut later in the round put Joshua down for a second time.
At that point, Joshua looked on the verge of one of the biggest shock defeats in heavyweight history, with a long-awaited fight against Tyson Fury hanging by a thread.
He was still unsteady at the start of the second round, but experience, and perhaps emotion, took over.
Joshua drew Prenga onto a jab before unleashing a crushing right hand.
More right hands followed as Prenga collapsed to the canvas, prompting the referee to halt the contest.
Speaking afterward, Joshua said, “It’s more than punch power. That was spirit, that was Latz, that was Sina, that was the families. It hurts to even talk about it. It has been tough.”
He choked up and stepped away from the microphone before adding, “It’s my brothers. I don’t want to talk about it.”
There had been speculation that fellow Briton Fury might make an appearance despite insisting he would not attend.
The master of mind games stayed true to his word, with Fury nowhere to be seen barely 24 hours after his own warm-up win over Mariusz Wach in Thailand.
Asked about the prospect of finally facing Fury, Joshua said, “I respect everything he has done and everything that he has achieved, but as a fighting person, we’re here now. I hope the fans will be in for a lovely treat.”
Contracts for the Fury fight have been signed, though the venue and date for a bout more than a decade in the making remain undecided.
This was Prenga’s second defeat of his career. For Joshua, it marked his first test against a recognised professional opponent since Daniel Dubois stopped him in September 2024.
His only fight since had come against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in December, ten days before the fatal crash that left him injured.
(The Whistler)