Anthony Joshua’s comeback bout in Jeddah nearly ended his career before it even began. The two-time heavyweight champion was knocked down twice in the opening 20 seconds by Kristian Prenga – a right uppercut and then a left hand – prompting his promoter Eddie Hearn to fear the worst.
“That was the most dramatic, emotional four minutes certainly of my career, maybe my life,” Hearn told SunSport from the ring apron. “I just can’t believe he found a way to win.”
“Joshua knocked down twice in round one, then stopped Prenga in round two, eight months after losing friends in a car crash.”
The bout came just eight months after a car crash in Nigeria that killed Joshua’s two close friends, Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami. Joshua, who survived with bruised ribs but a mental scar, called on their spirits to pull himself off the canvas. In the second round, a right hook knocked Prenga out cold.
Hearn admitted he had questioned whether Joshua returned too soon. “All week, you kind of start thinking to yourself, ‘Has he come back too early?’ He needed boxing to get over the grief but also he hasn’t got over the grief – does that make sense?”
With the win, Joshua sets up the biggest fight in British boxing history against Tyson Fury at the end of the year.
