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

[Frostieballs]

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.

100% KO records aren't proof of power when the opposition was 100% cans. Everyone on this forum should know this by now.

No, but it does prove they aren’t feather fisted.

[Ruthless-RKO]

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.

100% KO records aren't proof of power when the opposition was 100% cans. Everyone on this forum should know this by now.

No, but it does prove they aren’t feather fisted.

unless your name is Christopher Lovejoy

[sharpei_louis]

My wonder through all of this is why Usyk is out there making comments like AJ can be undisputed HW champ again? Is he just making a load of money for his team through Joshua, or did Joshua really upset him or something?

Usyk cannot be watching AJ day in and day out and thinking he is improving or returning to something like his younger self? His footwork and reflexes are gone, he is terrified and unravels in defence and we all saw what his punch resistance is like. I just don't understand the collaboration here at all... unless he wants to feed AJ to Itauma to give himself a bit of breathing space...

DAZN made a big deal about the less-than inspirational corner work spoken in heavily accented English that AJ could probably barely hear 'keep your left hand up'... wow. I didn't see anything at all suggesting any improvement in AJ. Yes his combinations and power remain when he lets his hands go, but literally any decent heavyweight could put him over now. The only saving grace is Fury looked slow, easy to hit and ponderous too so it will be a pick 'em still.

[joshj909]

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.

100% KO records aren't proof of power when the opposition was 100% cans. Everyone on this forum should know this by now.

It's proof of some level of power and it's proof that he would believe in it. Would Joshua have been dropped by someone of Prenga's level that's 20-1 with a 50% KO record? Although possible, way less likely if you're looking at it in advance of the fight.

100% KO records aren't proof of power when the opposition was 100% cans. Everyone on this forum should know this by now.

No, but it does prove they aren’t feather fisted.

unless your name is Christopher Lovejoy

Wasn't he outside the top 200 in the world? There's definitely levels to it if Prenga's inside the top 50 in comparison.

[joshj909]

My wonder through all of this is why Usyk is out there making comments like AJ can be undisputed HW champ again? Is he just making a load of money for his team through Joshua, or did Joshua really upset him or something?

Usyk cannot be watching AJ day in and day out and thinking he is improving or returning to something like his younger self? His footwork and reflexes are gone, he is terrified and unravels in defence and we all saw what his punch resistance is like. I just don't understand the collaboration here at all... unless he wants to feed AJ to Itauma to give himself a bit of breathing space...

DAZN made a big deal about the less-than inspirational corner work spoken in heavily accented English that AJ could probably barely hear 'keep your left hand up'... wow. I didn't see anything at all suggesting any improvement in AJ. Yes his combinations and power remain when he lets his hands go, but literally any decent heavyweight could put him over now. The only saving grace is Fury looked slow, easy to hit and ponderous too so it will be a pick 'em still.

He's coaching him so I imagine he's getting paid, he could also be there as a sparring partner too which is useful, or, he might actually like him so is enjoying the work they're doing together. I don't think he's trying to train AJ up to feed to Itauma or anything like that.

[Controversial]

Hearn saying it was the biggest uppercut you've ever seen

[joshj909]

Hearn saying it was the biggest uppercut you've ever seen

The biggest uppercut he's ever seen happened in his own garden

[Coco]

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.

It will still earn plenty, it's the biggest fight out there

[Ruthless-RKO]

[mooman]

People are overlooking the horrific car accident Joshua was recently involved in. A crash that instantly killed his friends sat inches away from him.
Seeing him smiling as Pregna put him over, it was easy to read that as usual kidology, but hearing him talk with Usyk about it afterwards clarified it a lot more.
Joshua spoke of how things play out as being destiny, a script already written. And whilst I also believe that to some degree - being apathetic and relying on a higher power or fate in a boxing ring is a recipe for disaster .. especially for a heavyweight who's chin appears gone.

Joshua fought like a man who thought he merely had to be there. He lacked urgency and sort of desire.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Kristian Prenga was battling illness, he was not bribed, says his manager

Kristian Prenga’s manager Keith Sullivan has dismissed the ludicrous claims that his fighter was offered a bribe between rounds one and two of Saturday’s fight with Anthony Joshua.

According to Sullivan, the sole reason for Prenga’s fade was an illness he’d suffered in the build-up which took him out of camp for two weeks before the fight.

Prenga, 20-2 (20 KOs), dropped Joshua twice (though Sullivan insists there were three knockdowns) in the opening round and seemed on the brink of a sensational upset. But Joshua, 30-4 (27 KOs), gained control in the next session before knocking Prenga through the ropes and out with a mighty right hand.

Sullivan told TalkSport that the “conspiracies” about Prenga throwing the fight were impossible.

"There were two conspiracies. One was that Turki [Alalshikh] had come over to our corner,” Sullivan explained.

"Turki was not even in Jeddah, so that never happened. That's gone, throw it away.

"The other conspiracy was that somebody from Sela or Matchroom had come and whispered in our corner. Look at the footage, that never happened.”

Prenga was merely exhausted and out of ideas after his surprise start, his manager insisted. Sullivan explained that Prenga had been in bed for eight days in the lead-up before being moved to Dubai where he was seen by a doctor.

"In the first round, he came out and just gassed himself out,” he said. “The instructions in the corner for the second round were, 'Continue what you're doing, keep the pressure on, keep pumping the jab and when you have the opportunities, take him'.

"Kristian stood up off the stool to start, when that bell rang for the second round, and he said to me he felt like he was back in that bed that he was in for eight days [before the fight], when he was gasping for air and had no energy.

"He was stunned with what happened, in an instant. He said it all came right back to him. The lack of training, lack of cardio that he wasn't able to do in the three weeks leading up to it, they caught him right at that moment.

"So, in his head, he kind of changed the game plan from what he was instructed to do. He said to himself, 'I've got AJ's number, I've knocked him down three times'... I don't care what anybody says, it was three knockdowns, those ropes held him up, absolutely, in between the two counted knockdowns.”

Prenga came into the contest as a 20-to-1 underdog, with no amateur experience, and never having fought world-class opposition before. Sullivan promises that lack of experience, alongside his depleting energy levels, were key.

"So, Kristian's figured [at the start of the second round], 'I have his number, I can just land my shot when I'm ready to, let me preserve some energy, let me stay away, let me back up a little bit'. And that's the slither... that goes to the talent and the skillset of AJ, that's the tiny, tiny opening of the door that AJ needed to kick it wide open and just take over.

"That's what happened, and Kristian said once AJ started working that jab and he started feeling that power, it was hard to now implement his own game plan, and we saw what happened.

"Again, I'm not making excuses, I think it was the most exciting five-and-a-half minutes of boxing that I've witnessed in a very long time.

"I think [Joshua's promoter] Eddie Hearn got a lot of grey hair sitting ringside, I think the Matchroom people have indigestion probably still, to this day. But that's what happened, he was feeling the effects of a poor camp and being sick, he thought he could execute against AJ at any point in time.

"He let off the gas and gave him that opening, and AJ just did what AJ does when a talented and skilled, high level, very experienced fighter does.”

[mickey1975]

People are overlooking the horrific car accident Joshua was recently involved in. A crash that instantly killed his friends sat inches away from him.
Seeing him smiling as Pregna put him over, it was easy to read that as usual kidology, but hearing him talk with Usyk about it afterwards clarified it a lot more.
Joshua spoke of how things play out as being destiny, a script already written. And whilst I also believe that to some degree - being apathetic and relying on a higher power or fate in a boxing ring is a recipe for disaster .. especially for a heavyweight who's chin appears gone.

Joshua fought like a man who thought he merely had to be there. He lacked urgency and sort of desire.

I don't think I've seen one person overlook the car accident.

[Ruthless-RKO]

https://britishboxingnews.co.uk/news/jo ... renga-win/

[Ruthless-RKO]

Kristian Prenga, though haunted by regret, insists he was 'not for sale' against Anthony Joshua

Kristian Prenga has been assessing his future at home in Albania after nearly springing one of the great heavyweight shocks.

Prenga dropped Anthony Joshua twice in the opening round of their Saudi Arabia showdown on July 31, but was stopped in the second session by the Englishman.

Prenga has not yet brought himself round to watching the whole fight, clearly disappointed that his big moment slipped away.

“To be honest, I was thinking I was going to finish the fight [when he had Joshua in trouble] but in the first round he [Joshua] was holding me and trying to hold me and hold me and I thought I was going to finish him in the first round and my plan is that [to stop him] at the start, first, second or third, you know? And second round, I don’t know what’s happened.”

Prenga flew out of the corner in the first and dropped Joshua in the opening seconds of the bout in Jeddah.

But when he came out for the second round, Prenga was measured and backed off more.

That allowed the former champion the chance to get a foothold in the fight.

“You know, sometimes when I go in the ring, I just focus on my trainer’s voice,” Prenga explained. “I don’t hear nobody there. And sometimes when I go in the corner he goes to me, ‘Just jab’ and ‘double jab and just control the breathing.’ He [Muhammad Abdul Salaam] doesn’t want me to go [all out].

“I don’t know. I don’t talk to my trainer actually after the fight [they have spoken since, though not about the fight]. I say I want to talk later. And maybe he wants to save [Prenga’s engine] because it’s 12 rounds, right? And he says control the breathing, move around, double jab, but I love to go [and attack]. Maybe it’s better just to go [forward]. I can stop him. Maybe second round I finish the fight [if he fought like he did in the first].

“And I go the wrong way, I go onto his right hand. It’s not my style to go back. My style is boxing to go forward. Pressure. But God’s plan is for him [Joshua] to win and I am blessed and God bless him because I’m happy with what God brings to me.”

Asked whether there was regret that he changed what he was doing, Prenga admitted: “A lot. A lot. I know if I go [attack], maybe I finish the fight. But, whatever.”

However, Prenga was quick to admonish those who suggested political forces were at play on the night, thus influencing how he boxed. Both talkSPORT’s outspoken pundit Simon Jordan and Paulie Malignaggi had speculated that Prenga had been influenced to change tact in order for the boxing powerbrokers to keep the proposed money-spinning bout between Joshua and Tyson Fury alive, although both later said they were wrong to imply that notion.

“First thing, I’m not for sale,” Prenga said emphatically. “That’s first thing. I promise you.

“Second thing, why am I gonna sell the fight?

If I win, I’m gonna make more money than selling the fight.”

Prenga also believes Joshua is still one of the world’s best heavyweights, despite not appearing in the top 10 ratings for both The Ring and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

“It’s not true,” said the 35-year-old, who fights out of Edgewater, New Jersey. “Joshua is a great fighter. He has experience. He has power and I know he went through a lot in his life – as we all know. But it’s not an easy fight for Tyson Fury. I promise you.”

Prenga, of course, is more focused on his own future.

He’s now 20-2 (20 KOs). There is talk of a possible deal with Matchroom. He will return to the US in a week or two, but cannot fight for three months because of a medical suspension from the KO.

But, he understands that, even in defeat, he has a stronger position, along with manager Keith Sullivan, at the negotiating table, after what he made Joshua go through.

“Yes, because before the fight everyone said, ‘Who’s this guy’ and ‘why’s he fighting Joshua.’ ‘He fights nobody. He’s stopped everybody in the first or second round,’” said Prenga. “But now what are they gonna say? I dropped Joshua in the first round, too. Joshua is two-time world champion, Olympic champion, he’s never got dropped in the first round like that. I know I have the power.”

[overhand_right]

Anyone noticed how long it's taking the channels or promoters to publish the full version on YouTube?

Matchroom's "highlights" omit most of the first round and Joshua clinging on for dear life.