Anthony Joshua is still on track to clash with Tyson Fury, but those plans were nearly derailed.
The former heavyweight champ Joshua (29-4) returned to the boxing ring for a tune-up fight against Kristian Prenga at Jeddah Superdome in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the expectation that he would get the job done and set up a massive fight against Fury. Joshua did get a knockout, but he was also nearly stopped in the first round.
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Prenga (20-2) showed up with intentions of pulling off a massive upset as a +900 underdog. The 35-year-old Albanian dropped Joshua twice in the first round, stunning onlookers. Joshua seemed calm after both moments, though, as if it were a mild inconvenience rather than a threat of the fight getting out of his control.
Sure enough, in Round 2, Joshua flipped the script.
It was a 1-2 combination, followed by a three-punch set ending with a hard right hand that sent Prenga crashing to the canvas, leaving his body draped over the bottom rope. Joshua unleashed a huge smile as he strolled to the opposite corner, knowing the shot he landed ended the fight. The official time of the stoppage was 2:43.
During his post-fight interview, Joshua, 36, turned his attention to “more important matters” in Fury. He jokingly attempted to re-create Mike Tyson’s infamous post-fight rant before giving Fury, Eddie Hearn and Turki Alalshikh genuine praise for putting everything together.
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The expectation is that Joshua and Fury will meet in November, with details still yet to be ironed out.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Anthony Joshua hits canvas twice, rallies for Round 2 knockout
