Joshua knocked down twice in dramatic win over Prenga

Anthony Joshua recovered from two first-round knockdowns to stop Kristian Prenga in the second round in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The British heavyweight was fighting for the first time since surviving a car crash in Nigeria in December that killed his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif 'Latz' Ayodele. Joshua carried their names on his chest and walked to the ring with his entire team, while the canvas bore their names and the words 'My Brother's Keeper'.

Prenga sent Joshua crashing to the canvas with a right uppercut just 20 seconds into the bout. Although Joshua got up smiling, a left uppercut later in the round knocked him down again. At that point, the fight looked close to a major upset, but Joshua responded in the second round with a crushing right hand that sent Prenga to the canvas and forced the referee to stop the contest.

"It's more than punch power. That was spirit, that was Latz, that was Sina, that was the families," said Joshua, who became emotional as he stepped away from the microphone. The victory sets up a potential fight with fellow Briton Tyson Fury, although the venue and date remain unknown. Fury was absent after winning his own warm-up bout against Mariusz Wach in Thailand the previous day.

Prenga, who had won all 20 of his previous fights by knockout, suffered his second professional defeat. Joshua's previous fight against a recognised professional opponent was a loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024, with his only other bout being against YouTuber Jake Paul in December, 10 days before the fatal crash. Joshua passed the test, albeit not in the dominant style many expected.