The ghost of a harrowing car crash that killed two of his closest friends may still haunt Anthony Joshua when he steps into the ring in Jeddah tonight. That is the warning from Tyson Fury’s cousin and trainer Andy Lee, who fears the 36-year-old’s grief will be too raw to face the Gypsy King in November as planned.
Joshua faces Albanian Kristian Prenga in what was supposed to be a stepping stone to the biggest fight in British boxing history — a long-awaited clash with his 37-year-old rival Fury later this year. But Lee, a former WBO middleweight champion and rare unbiased voice in the sport, believes Joshua needs another warm-up bout first.
“Tyson Fury's cousin and trainer Andy Lee fears Anthony Joshua's tragic car wreck will affect his performance against Prenga.”
“This is Joshua’s first fight since that horrible accident, when he lost two of his closest friends,” Lee told SunSport from Jeddah, where he is coaching super-middleweight champ Hamzah Sheeraz. “That is going to be echoing in his mind because they would have been here... It will be extremely difficult and will affect his performance, he will take that into the ring, that weight.”
The December car wreck came just ten days after Joshua knocked out Jake Paul, capping an emotional rollercoaster month. Now, as he prepares to face the little-known Prenga — a fighter aiming to “shock the world” — Lee worries the memory of lost friends will linger. “He will have been walking around in camp thinking: ‘they would have been here with me’,” Lee added.
Joshua must first beat Prenga to keep the Fury showdown alive. But even if he wins, Lee argues the scars may not heal in time for November. “Maybe he just needs this fight and this win to get that weight off him,” he said, before suggesting a second tune-up could be necessary. For a rivalry that has simmered for 15 years, that might be the most unpopular opinion in British boxing right now.