Down Twice, Out Cold: Joshua Survives Prenga Scare, Sets Up Fury Showdown
Two knockdowns couldn't stop the former champion from finishing the job in Round 2
By Gus "Walk-Off" Fields
Anthony Joshua hit the canvas twice before Kristian Prenga hit the canvas once — and once was all that mattered.
Joshua's return to the ring in Saudi Arabia turned into the kind of fight that makes grown fans grab the arm of the stranger next to them. The former two-time heavyweight champion was dropped twice by Albania's Prenga, a result that would have finished the night for most men holding his resume. Instead, Joshua dug in, found his shot, and knocked Prenga out in the second round, according to BBC Sport and ESPN.
"Dramatic" is the word BBC Sport used, and it's hard to improve on it. This was not the tidy, uncontested version of Joshua that critics have sometimes complained about. This was a man rattled, hurt, and still standing at the final bell of the round that mattered.
The win does more than pad a record. It sets up a super-fight with Tyson Fury, the matchup British boxing has wanted for years and, until Saturday, wasn't sure Joshua could still earn. A knockdown-plagued win isn't the cleanest résumé builder, but in this business the record book doesn't ask how close it was — only who's left standing.
For Joshua — no stranger to doubt after past losses to Oleksandr Usyk — the message from Saudi Arabia was simple: he can still take a punch, and he can still deliver the one that ends things. Fury will have watched closely. So will everyone else.
[Editor's note: This desk could not independently confirm the exact fight date or Joshua's current age against a primary source before deadline. Both have been withheld from this copy pending verification.]
— Compiled from reporting by BBC Sport, ESPN and Al Jazeera.
Final score's the last thing that mattered here.
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