Joshua recovers from knockdowns to win first post-accident fight
Anthony Joshua recovered from two first-round knockdowns to deliver a brutal second-round knockout against Kristian Prenga in his first fight since a December car crash.
British-Nigerian boxer Anthony Joshua has defeated Kristian Prenga in their heavyweight boxing fight at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night. The 36-year-old recovered from two knockdowns by Prenga in the first round to deliver a brutal second-round knockout to win the fight, his first since an auto crash on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in December last year where he lost his two close friends who doubled as his trainers.
Joshua improved his record to 30 wins in 34 bouts, with 27 of his victories coming via knockout. Prenga suffered only his second defeat in his 22-fight career. It is Joshua’s 10th second-round knockout win of his illustrious boxing career in which the Sagamu native has been a two-time unified heavyweight world champion.
Joshua was floored by Prenga’s uppercut within 20 seconds of the fight, but the Olympic champion survived the count. The vulnerable London-raised boxer was floored again seconds later and barely made the count before recovering to finish the round. The second round was a sharp contrast to the first, as Joshua landed flurries of punches before he delivered a devastating hook that almost sent Prenga out of the ring. The victory clears the route for Joshua to face Tyson Fury in the proposed “Battle of Britain” on a date to be announced later this year.
Joshua’s comeback is a testament to his resilience. The car crash in December was a traumatic event, and his performance in Jeddah showed that he has not lost his fighting spirit. The victory sets up a potential showdown with Fury, one of the biggest fights in boxing.
This echoes the 2019 comeback of Joshua after his shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr, when he also rebounded with a dominant performance. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: Joshua proving he can overcome adversity.
The winners: Anthony Joshua, who has made a winning comeback; and boxing fans, who now have the prospect of a Joshua-Fury fight. The losers: Kristian Prenga, who lost; and the Nigerian public, who have a boxer to support.
Bottom Line: Joshua is back. He survived two knockdowns and won by knockout. The comeback is complete. The next fight is Fury. The question is whether he can win that one too.