Round-by-Round: Anthony Joshua vs. Kristian Prenga - 25 July 2026

[Boxerbeetle]

Do we really need 5 pinned threads on the B&I board btw? Bit of a pisstake considering 4 of them are related to the exact same card. Makes it very annoying to see traffic on other threads. Sort it out mods.

[Glass Joe]

Yeah pinned comments are a bit shite, 2 max if you are going to do them. Popular topics will always find a way to be at the top

[Taansend]

There's another Albanian fighter based in New York named Luis Gjolena, 21, who is currently 9(6)-0-1. He fights across the Hudson River from where Prenga does.

If I was Gjolena's manager I would be on the blower straight away to Prenga's people trying to make this fight on the undercard of the next decent card in NYC.

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/1092036

[magnus]

I was prepared to give Joshua the benefit of the doubt for the Dubois fight, bad nights happen, but no, some of you were right - he's shot. His chin has never been McCall-like, but there's no way that first shot has that effect on him 6-7 years ago.

Those of you who said that the last 48 hours have been awful for the proposed "biggest fight in British boxing history" are spot on. AJ looks washed, Fury looks 50-odd years old.

Vegas is fornicating welcome to it.

[SeanBrennan]

Absolute shower isn’t it.

[magnus]

Hopefully we get Moses against the winner of DDD-Wardley II to look forward to instead

[mickey1975]

Hopefully we get Moses against the winner of DDD-Wardley II to look forward to instead

Neither were going anywhere near those 3 anyway.

[Nightmare Roy]

This is gonna make it look as though Floyd and Manny fought in their primes. They always leave these big fights way too long, could have been a cracker.

[Eolaithe]

Does anyone believe that the Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury fight will be reminiscent of these legendary bouts?

• Jeff Fenech vs Azumah Nelson III
• Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr.
• Bernard Hopkins vs Roy Jones Jr. II
• Roy Jones Jr. vs Felix Trinidad
• Roy Jones Jr. vs Jeff Lacy
• Kell Brook vs Amir Khan

[Controversial]

Is it 11 times AJ has been dropped now? He definitely seems a lot more fragile these days, the punches from Prenga that had him over didn’t look much so it’s got to be a concern for his team. Fury isn’t much of a puncher though.

[Coco]

Time to cash out for the pair of them, it will be big money

[mickey1975]

Is it 11 times AJ has been dropped now? He definitely seems a lot more fragile these days, the punches from Prenga that had him over didn’t look much so it’s got to be a concern for his team. Fury isn’t much of a puncher though.

ANY punches trouble AJ now. The fight was very similar to Johnny Fishers last outing.

[TheLeprechaun]

Time to cash out for the pair of them, it will be big money

Will it? I think its lost a lot of its appeal. I'd tune in but I wouldn't be paying big bucks to see it.

[gilgamesh]

Time to cash out for the pair of them, it will be big money

Will it? I think its lost a lot of its appeal. I'd tune in but I wouldn't be paying big bucks to see it.

I'd think Netflix would pay a big amount for it so that makes it viewable to a wider amount of people. I'd think it'll still sell out whatever Stadium they put it in. The Atmosphere would be better in the U.K.

PPV won't be an issue. It'll be part of the Netflix Subscription.

[KiwiRider]

It appears now that AJ wasn’t even carrying Jake Paul.

[KiwiRider]

Does anyone believe that the Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury fight will be reminiscent of these legendary bouts?

• Jeff Fenech vs Azumah Nelson III
• Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr.
• Bernard Hopkins vs Roy Jones Jr. II
• Roy Jones Jr. vs Felix Trinidad
• Roy Jones Jr. vs Jeff Lacy
• Kell Brook vs Amir Khan

Joshua is as chinny as Khan was, respective of the weight class of course.
I still feel conned having to PPV that crap. Fury Joshua will be the same.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Does anyone believe that the Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury fight will be reminiscent of these legendary bouts?

• Jeff Fenech vs Azumah Nelson III
• Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr.
• Bernard Hopkins vs Roy Jones Jr. II
• Roy Jones Jr. vs Felix Trinidad
• Roy Jones Jr. vs Jeff Lacy
• Kell Brook vs Amir Khan

Joshua is as chinny as Khan was, respective of the weight class of course.
I still feel conned having to PPV that crap. Fury Joshua will be the same.

Yeh, you guys down on that side of the planet always get shafted

[TBA]

Josh can still bang though.

I'd be confident he could land one on Fury despite the talent gap at their current stages of career. Wach got Fury clean and he is as slow as a Double Decker bus after a curry.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Prenga apologizes after failing to finish Joshua

Kristian Prenga recognized the life-altering opportunity he knows he should’ve seized Saturday night.

The previously unknown Albanian heavyweight couldn’t help but feel that he let his proud people down in the immediate aftermath of his second-round knockout loss to Anthony Joshua at Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“I’m gonna say I’m sorry to everybody,” Prenga told The Ring on his way back to his locker room. “I [didn’t] make them proud, but next time.”

Prenga probably ensured that there will be a next time on a big stage by dropping Joshua twice in the first round of what was arranged as a tune-up fight for the former unified heavyweight champ. England’s Joshua (30-4, 27 KOs) believed he needed to test himself mentally and physically nearly seven months after suffering injuries in a car accident that claimed the lives of two of his closest friends.

DraftKings made him a 25-1 favorite because Prenga (20-2, 20 KOs) had never fought a legitimate contender, let alone an accomplished opponent like Joshua. That didn’t stop Prenga from nearly destroying the 36-year-old Joshua’s long-planned showdown with rival Tyson Fury (36-2-1, 25 KOs) in what will be promoted as the biggest fight in British boxing history.

The 6-foot-5, 261-pound Prenga’s right uppercut stunningly dropped Joshua just 21 seconds into their scheduled 12-round bout. Joshua reached his feet quickly, but Prenga knocked him into the ropes with another right hand and caught Joshua with a left uppercut that caused him to use his right glove to keep from going down, which counted as a second knockdown.

The 6-foot-6, 251-pound Joshua remarkably recovered by the start of the second round. He was aggressive and eventually dropped Prenga with a combination punctuated by a right hand that left Prenga sprawled out on the bottom rope.

Prenga attempted to get up, but referee Luis Pabon halted the action at 2:43 of the second round.

“Congratulations to him,” Prenga said, “but it’s not my night tonight. … I [thought] I’m gonna drop him in the second round, too, but it [didn’t] happen.”

Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s career-long promoter, has contractual options on Prenga. Hearn intends to use the 35-year-old puncher again based on how he performed in the most meaningful fight of his career.

“We have options,” Hearn told The Ring. “It’s like a standard deal, but we’ll work with him again. I mean, like he’s made a massive name for himself tonight. So yeah, he’ll be back, I’m sure. He’s a lovely man and got great support and, you know, on we go.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Syntax Error]

I was prepared to give Joshua the benefit of the doubt for the Dubois fight, bad nights happen, but no, some of you were right - he's shot. His chin has never been McCall-like, but there's no way that first shot has that effect on him 6-7 years ago.

Those of you who said that the last 48 hours have been awful for the proposed "biggest fight in British boxing history" are spot on. AJ looks washed, Fury looks 50-odd years old.

Vegas is fornicating welcome to it.

Now I know why they didn’t pursue an immediate rematch with Dubois.

I believe that Hearn and Co know that Joshua is shot to pieces, hence why they agreed to the Jake Paul cashout farce and why they're now so desperate to cashout against Fury in a decade old fight.

This is Joshua's last chance to earn some megabucks, because he is now a 250 lb Amir Khan and is an accident waiting to happen.

[mickey1975]

I was prepared to give Joshua the benefit of the doubt for the Dubois fight, bad nights happen, but no, some of you were right - he's shot. His chin has never been McCall-like, but there's no way that first shot has that effect on him 6-7 years ago.

Those of you who said that the last 48 hours have been awful for the proposed "biggest fight in British boxing history" are spot on. AJ looks washed, Fury looks 50-odd years old.

Vegas is fornicating welcome to it.

Now I know why they didn’t pursue an immediate rematch with Dubois.

I believe that Hearn and Co know that Joshua is shot to pieces, hence why they agreed to the Jake Paul cashout farce and why they're now so desperate to cashout against Fury in a decade old fight.

This is Joshua's last chance to earn some megabucks, because he is now a 250 lb Amir Khan and is an accident waiting to happen.

That's a huge insult to Khan.

[joshj909]

I was prepared to give Joshua the benefit of the doubt for the Dubois fight, bad nights happen, but no, some of you were right - he's shot. His chin has never been McCall-like, but there's no way that first shot has that effect on him 6-7 years ago.

Those of you who said that the last 48 hours have been awful for the proposed "biggest fight in British boxing history" are spot on. AJ looks washed, Fury looks 50-odd years old.

Vegas is fornicating welcome to it.

Now I know why they didn’t pursue an immediate rematch with Dubois.

I believe that Hearn and Co know that Joshua is shot to pieces, hence why they agreed to the Jake Paul cashout farce and why they're now so desperate to cashout against Fury in a decade old fight.

This is Joshua's last chance to earn some megabucks, because he is now a 250 lb Amir Khan and is an accident waiting to happen.

I think this must have been seen as a test of his chin. Wallin or Franklin are the types of feather fisted opponents you pick to get the ring rust off and get rounds. They would come to win but not pose a threat of a flash KO. You pick an opponent like Wach to sit there and take a beating without punching back for a few rounds. Prenga was 20-1 with 100% KO record and has never been stopped and isn't way too old. That's someone that's coming to win with knockout power whether they're skilled or not. Retrospectively a risky move if they knew Joshua's chin was as fragile as it currently looks.

[Ruthless-RKO]

'The fright of his life': Prenga's manager talks near Joshua upset

Kristian Prenga’s manager Keith Sullivan believes the Albanian underdog still managed to shock the world despite a second-round knockout loss to Anthony Joshua on Saturday night.

The fight was supposed to be a relatively safe way for Joshua to feel his way back into action after the tragic December car crash which took the lives of his two closest friends. He was expected to easily step over the final obstacle separating him from a long overdue Battle of Britain with Tyson Fury.

Cast into a supporting actor role, the relatively unknown Prenga said all the right things throughout the build-up but his quiet manner didn’t elicit much support.

Sullivan took it upon himself to sing his man's praises as loudly as he could and Prenga (20-2, 20 KOs) almost delivered an all-time shock.

During a sensational opening round he seemed to hurt the two-time unified heavyweight champion almost every time he connected. He dropped Joshua (30-4, 27 KOs) twice and another big right hand sent the Brit careering backwards, the ropes keeping him upright.

Rather than going for broke in the second, Prenga chose to bide his time and allowed himself to be pushed backwards, a fatal mistake against a fighter of Joshua’s caliber. The Londoner grabbed the lifeline, knocking Prenga out with a right of his own as the round drew to a close.

On Sunday, Sullivan was able to look back with pride but frustration at just how close Prenga came to causing a stunning upset.

"Kristian was literally half a punch away from upsetting the entire boxing world. I think my guy gave Eddie Hearn the fright of his life," Sullivan told The Ring via message.

"I have been saying for weeks that Matchroom miscalculated Prenga and that he was going to shock the world. While he didn't get the outcome we desired, I do think we shocked the world because no one anticipated KP's power - especially AJ.

"Unfortunately, a tactical error took place that Prenga regrets, preserving himself allowed AJ to settle in and bring the fight to an abrupt end. KP should have used AJ's strategy when he was in trouble during the first round by holding on, grabbing and trying to survive. I'm very proud of him, think he's now made a big name for himself and will be back in the mix of major heavyweight fights."

Although Prenga will replay the 60 seconds he spent on his stool between the first and second rounds for years to come, those opening three minutes are guaranteed to earn the 35-year-old plenty of future work.

Sullivan thinks he can capitalise on the moment. He believes Prenga has all the raw materials required of a top class heavyweight and now wants him to hone his skills so when the next moment arrives, he is better prepared mentally and physically to take it.

"He's got the power. He’s a little short on the fine-tuning of the skill set. He doesn't have the skills that AJ has and we can work on that because the power is there," Sullivan said after the fight.

"The heart, dedication and commitment to the craft is there. The other stuff we can bring along. I think he did a great showing of how durable and tough he is. But you stop punching, start backing up and put your back into a corner, you're in Joshua's kill zone and that is what it is. So, we have to live with that now, accept it and move on.

"But I think certainly in the first round, he did more than enough to demonstrate that he belongs on the big stage and we'll be back here on a major event again."