The man who put Anthony Joshua on the canvas twice in Jeddah does not think Joshua is finished.
Kristian Prenga was supposed to be a formality. Instead, the Albanian dropped Joshua twice inside the opening round of his comeback before Joshua recovered and stopped him in the second, a sequence that left more questions than the win answered.
Speaking to Tris Dixon, Prenga rejected the idea that what he saw was a fighter in decline.
It’s not true. 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.
The Fury fight is the reason anyone is asking. Both men have their tune-ups done, with Fury stopping Mariusz Wach in Thailand on July 24, and reports point to Madison Square Garden in November. Nothing is announced, because the venue has become its own fight. Eddie Hearn says the contract requires the UK and has threatened to pull Joshua out entirely if New York is announced without a renegotiation.
Prenga has come out of it better than anyone expected. He is 35, still a promotional free agent, and Hearn has publicly floated adding him to the Matchroom heavyweight roster on the strength of two rounds.
