Anthony Joshua returns to the ring tonight as he faces Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua is seeking to take likely the final step towards a blockbuster long-awaited showdown with Tyson Fury later in 2026 as the most-anticipated super-fight in British boxing history finally moves into view.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW JOSHUA VS PRENGA LIVE!
Fury kept up his end of the bargain, following up a comfortable comeback from another retirement against Arslanbek Makhmudov in April with Friday’s one-sided victory over veteran heavyweight Mariusz Wach.
The self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ dominated his overmatched 46-year-old opponent in a non-televised charity bout that took place in front of only 1,500 fans in Thailand, forcing him to retire on his stool before the start of the eighth round.
Now 24 hours later all eyes will quickly turn to arch-rival Joshua, who is in action for the first time since needing six rounds to knock out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Miami in December.
10 days after that victory, the former two-time world heavyweight champion suffered minor injuries as a passenger in a serious car accident in Nigeria that claimed the lives of two of his close friends and long-time team members in Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele.
Joshua is an overwhelming favourite to easily brush aside little-known Prenga, the New Jersey-based Albanian heavyweight who is coming off a first-round stoppage over Joe Jones in Atlantic City in February.
Prenga, 35, is unbeaten since suffering his sole professional loss in 2017 and has won all of his last 16 fights via stoppage, but is making a giant step up in class by facing Joshua.
Saturday’s undercard at the Jeddah Superdome - a new location for an event that was originally booked for Riyadh to coincide with the Esports World Cup - features two maiden title defences from reigning British world champions, with Hamzah Sheeraz putting his WBO super-middleweight belt on the line against Germany’s Simon Zachenhuber.
That is after Josh Kelly has made the first defence of his IBF super-welterweight gold against Irish challenger Caoimhin Agyarko.
How to watch Joshua vs Prenga
TV channel and live stream: Anthony Joshua vs Kristian Prenga - AKA ‘The Comeback’ - is being broadcast live and exclusively on DAZN pay-per-view, priced at £19.99.
The main undercard begins at 6pm BST, with Joshua and Prenga expected to make their respective ring walks at approximately 11pm.
Live blog: Standard Sport will keep you fully up to date with Saturday night’s fight card via our live blog.
