Anthony Joshua’s return to the ring almost ended in disaster tonight as he was dropped within seconds before stopping Kristian Prenga in the second round in Jeddah.
The Brit was expected to run through the Albanian in a comeback fight before facing off with Tyson Fury and finally booking a super-fight over a decade in the making. His rival did the business a night previous in a farcical Thai tune-up against the aging Mariusz Wach, but seemed to avoid travelling.
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Things started horribly for Joshua, though, as he was floored within the opening seconds by little known heavyweight Prenga before appearing to signal some sort of leg injury. He was dropped once more in the first, before coming back and scoring a thudding knockout in round two.
Anthony Joshua knocks out Kristian Prenga in outlandish two-round fight
After recovering from a tragic car accident that took the lives of two of his best friends in December, Anthony Joshua decided to return to boxing in pursuit of one last world title run. He opted for a warm-up fight against Kristian Prenga in Jeddah before moving on to a clash with Tyson Fury.
The British duo even inked deals to fight later this year, albeit with a few wrinkles still to iron out including the involvement of Dana White and a location. It is expected that the duo will compete on Netflix, but it might end up landing in New York City instead of a UK stadium.
One slight issue emerged in the form of Prenga, who didn’t read the script and sent Joshua to the canvas within thirty seconds. He proceeded to chase his rival around the ring and score another knockdown, but the two-time world champion just about survived into the second.
From there, Joshua was able to find his footing and in the second he reminded boxing fans of just what he can do. He scored a knockdown before flattening Prenga and landing a trademark knockout victory to spare his blushes.
He proceeded to call out Fury for a face-off, before learning that his long-time rival had opted not to come to Jeddah and launching into a Mike Tyson-inspired verbal tirade.
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