Anthony Joshua was on the canvas within 20 seconds, floored by a thunderous right uppercut from unknown Albanian Kristian Prenga at the Jeddah Superdome. He took a knee again before the end of the first round, his comeback fight threatening to unravel in the most chaotic fashion — a fight that was supposed to set up a long-awaited heavyweight showdown with Tyson Fury.
Joshua, making his first appearance since surviving a car crash in Nigeria that killed two of his close friends — Sina Ghami and Latif 'Latz' Ayodele — somehow climbed off the deck. In the second round, he dropped Prenga through the ropes with a monstrous punch. The Albanian could not beat the count, handing Joshua his 27th career knockout.
“Anthony Joshua knocked out Kristian Prenga after being knocked down twice, setting up a Tyson Fury fight.”
"That was more than power — that was Sina and Latz and family," Joshua said in the ring, fighting back tears. "I can't even talk about it. They were my brothers — I don't want to talk about it." He composed himself before adding: "I learned I cannot be stopped or denied. I am coming, trust me."
The victory secures a £100m super-fight against British rival Tyson Fury, who won his own warm-up bout via seventh-round TKO against Mariusz Wach in Thailand — a fight that was not televised. Fury was not ringside in Jeddah, so the build-up for the long-overdue clash will have to wait. But after a first round that saw Joshua lost and on the floor twice, the fight that so nearly slipped away is now set.