Anthony Joshua recovered from a calamitous opening round to knock out Kristian Prenga and rescue a super-fight with Tyson Fury.
Joshua was knocked down twice early in shocking fashion on his chaotic return against a little-known opponent in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, left clinging on as he almost fell victim to one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
The former two-time world heavyweight champion was rocked by a thudding uppercut inside the first 20 seconds at the Jeddah Superdome and looked hurt on seriously unsteady legs as Prenga poured on the pressure, with Joshua’s gloves touching the canvas as he appeared to take a knee then bringing on another count from the referee.
Joshua seemed in real trouble, but regathered his composure quickly before the start of the second round and came firing back immediately, almost launching Prenga through the ropes with a trademark powerful right hand that left the Albanian unable to beat the count.
Joshua’s 30th win - and 27th knockout - in 34 professional fights saw him remain on course to finally meet arch-rival Fury later in 2026 in arguably the biggest and most lucrative bout in British boxing history.
However, despite saying in a U-turn after his dominant seventh-round triumph over veteran Mariusz Wach in Thailand on Friday that he would be at ringside in Jeddah 24 hours later, Fury eventually stayed away to leave fans still waiting for their first face-off after Joshua declined Fury’s invitation to join him in the ring following the latter’s comeback win against Arslanbek Makhmudov in London in April.
Joshua’s dramatic victory over Prenga was his first fight since suffering minor injuries as a passenger in a serious car crash in Nigeria in December that claimed the lives of two of his close friends and long-time team members in Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, a tribute to whom was written on the ring canvas in Jeddah next to Joshua’s corner.
An emotional Joshua told DAZN in the ring afterwards: “It’s what champions do. We rise, we get knocked down and we stand up and we keep going, that’s life’s motto.
“It’s more than punch power, that was spirit, that was Latz, that was Sina, that was the families. It hurts even talking about it. It’s been tough.”
Joshua asked if Fury was in attendance, before reciting Mike Tyson’s famous “I’m the best ever” speech that followed his 38-second stoppage win over Lou Savarese in Glasgow in 2000 when quizzed on if he had a message for his fellow Briton.
Imitating Tyson, he said: “I’m gonna rip his heart out. I’m the meanest and most vicious world champion there’s ever been. No one can stop me. He's no Alexander, I’m Alexander.”
Joshua added: “All jokes aside, there are two sides to this thing. One is the fighter, you have to have that vim. But also there’s respect.
“I respect everything he [Fury] has done and everything he’s achieved. But as a fighting person, and someone who has been calling for this fight for a long time, we’re here now.
“Shout out to His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh], shout out to Eddie Hearn for making these opportunities possible. I hope the fans will be in for a lovely treat.”
