Anthony Joshua Defeats Kristian Prenga via Second Round KO – Comeback Victory Sets Up Tyson Fury Showdown

Anthony Joshua survived the worst opening round of his professional career to knock out Kristian Prenga in the second round in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Albanian dropped Joshua twice inside the opening three minutes, but the former two-time world champion recovered to finish the fight at 2:43 of round two — and in doing so cleared the last obstacle standing between him and Tyson Fury.

Anthony Joshua and Kristian Prenga fight night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — Joshua returned to the ring in Jeddah for the first time in seven months.

Joshua was in real trouble before the fight had properly started

Nineteen seconds. That is how long it took Prenga to land a right uppercut that dropped Joshua flat on the canvas. It was not a flash knockdown or a slip — Joshua was hurt, his legs unsteady, and the Albanian sensed the biggest night of his career was in front of him.

Prenga went hunting. He landed again before the round was out and put Joshua down a second time, turning a routine comeback assignment into something close to a disaster. For three minutes Joshua looked like a fighter whose best years were behind him.

Round 1 in one lineTwo knockdowns for Prenga, and the worst single round of Anthony Joshua’s professional career.

The second round changed everything

What separated Joshua on this night was not power — it was the ninety seconds between rounds. He came out for the second with his feet under him again, his guard tighter, and his jab working. Prenga, having emptied a great deal into that opening round, could not sustain the same pressure.

Anthony Joshua lands the finishing shot on Kristian Prenga — Joshua found his range in round two and ended the contest at 2:43.

Joshua worked behind the jab, found the body, and then landed the right hand that had been waiting all night. Prenga went through the ropes. The referee did not need to count. At 2:43 of the second round, it was finished.

The numbers behind the finish

Metric	Joshua	Prenga
Result	Win — KO R2 (2:43)	Loss
Knockdowns scored	1	2
Fight duration	1 full round + 2:43
Venue	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Date	25 July 2026

My rating of the performance

This is a difficult fight to score, because the two rounds told completely opposite stories. Judged purely on the result, it was emphatic. Judged on how he got there, it raised the same question that has followed Joshua since Andy Ruiz in 2019.

Category	Score	Reasoning
Punch power	9.0	One clean right hand was enough. That has never been the issue.
Recovery and composure	9.5	Getting up twice and winning inside three more minutes takes a specific kind of nerve.
Between-rounds adjustment	8.5	The corner settled him, and round two looked like a different fighter.
Defence	5.5	The chin remains the story. Fury will have watched round one closely.
Ring rust	6.0	Seven months out and a car accident behind him — it showed early.
Overall	7.5	A win that answers one question and reopens another.

The honest readJoshua passed the test he needed to pass, but not in a manner that will worry Tyson Fury. Kristian Prenga is not a top-ten heavyweight, and he still put Joshua down twice inside a single round.

What it means for Fury

Anthony Joshua celebrates victory and looks ahead to Tyson Fury — The win clears the path to the all-British heavyweight showdown.

The fight is made. That is the headline, and commercially it is all that matters — Joshua vs Fury will sell regardless of what happened in Jeddah.

Competitively, though, round one handed Fury a blueprint that was already half-drawn. Fury does not carry Prenga’s raw power, but he is a far more accurate and intelligent puncher, and he will have noted how quickly Joshua can be hurt when caught cold. Expect a fast, aggressive opening from Fury when the two finally meet.

For Joshua, the counter-argument is equally real. He was dropped twice and still won inside two rounds. Very few heavyweights in the division could have done that.

Where this leaves the division

Joshua is now 2-0 since returning from the car accident that many assumed would end his career, following the December win over Jake Paul. He is not the fighter he was in 2017, and pretending otherwise does him no favours — but he remains one of the most dangerous single-punch finishers at heavyweight.

Against Fury, that may be enough to make it competitive. It may not be enough to win. Either way, the fight the sport has waited half a decade for is finally next.

Sources: Sky Sports, Al Jazeera, Forbes, Yahoo Sports.