Anthony Joshua knocked down twice, stops Kristian Prenga in round two
Anthony Joshua was floored twice in the opening round but rallied to stop Kristian Prenga with a second-round knockout in the early hours of Sunday morning in Jeddah. The win preserved Joshua’s November showdown with Tyson Fury and ended a volatile night that threatened his position as one of Britain’s leading heavyweights.
The contest served as Joshua’s final ring outing before the much-anticipated clash with Tyson Fury in November and was his first fight since the car crash last December that left him injured and cost the lives of two of his closest friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele. What began as a routine tune-up quickly turned into a chaotic encounter that tested Joshua’s composure and resilience. There were alarming moments inside the opening three minutes when the outcome appeared in serious doubt. By the second round, however, the bout had been decided in emphatic fashion.
Joshua went down to the canvas inside 20 seconds of the opening bell and was sent to the floor again later in the first round, leaving the crowd stunned and the trajectory of his preparations for Fury uncertain. Those early knockdowns punctuated a frenetic opening stanza and put immediate pressure on Joshua to respond. Prenga’s success in the first round underlined the unpredictability of the match and suggested a possible upset was on the cards.
The Briton regrouped between rounds and returned with renewed aggression, turning the contest in his favour. A powerful sequence in the second saw Joshua land the decisive blows that culminated in a brutal finish. The concluding knockout left Prenga crumpled on the canvas and tangled in the ropes as the referee moved in, ending the contest.
What had threatened to become a humiliating night for Joshua instead became a dramatic rescue of his heavyweight credentials. The second-round stoppage halted momentum for Prenga and allowed Joshua to complete the bout that stood as his final check before the Fury fight. Recovery from the early setbacks restored a measure of confidence for Joshua and his team.
The victory ensures Joshua advances from this tune-up with a headline win on his record and keeps intact the scheduled clash with Tyson Fury in November. After a turbulent opening, the outcome preserved the high-profile fight that has been billed for later in the year.
