LAGOS JULY 26TH (NEWSRANGERS)-In heavyweight boxing, one punch can change everything. Rarely has that adage been as relevant as on Saturday, when Anthony Joshua got caught cold by Kristian Prenga, who checked Joshua’s chin with a right uppercut and dropped him just 19 seconds into the first round of their heavyweight bout at the Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
For years, former unified heavyweight champion Joshua (30-4, 27 KOs) has been linked with his compatriot, Tyson Fury. And though they could have fought thrice already, a Joshua win this weekend was expected to finally tee up that long-awaited superfight following Fury’s finish of Mariusz Wach in Thailand on Friday.
But Prenga (20-2, 20 KOs) showed, with just one punch, that over-marination of a fight is in fact very real. Sometimes it’s better just to book the damned thing.
Because if Prenga’s uppercut wasn’t enough to demonstrate that upsets can happen, the Albanian puncher drove the point home again with a barrage of blows later in the opening round, causing Joshua to touch the canvas for a second time, this time with his glove, and forcing the referee to give Joshua a second 10-count.
Alas, when it comes to battles between big men, big punches can do a lot of things. And one big punch can change everything.
Joshua, you see, was not done.
It took Joshua seven months to return to the ring following his sixth-round knockout of crossover sensation Jake Paul last December. Tragedy stuck shortly after that win, with a car accident claiming the lives of two of Joshua’s best friends and nearly taking Joshua’s own as well. The former champ grieved. He mourned. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, said he’d give Joshua space to return only when he was ready.
Saturday was that comeback. Hearn said, upon watching that first round, that maybe the 36-year-old Brit had come back “too soon.” Maybe he wasn’t ready.
But a “higher power” roused him, Joshua said. Something “more than” helped get Joshua off the canvas, and it ensured he survived a near-calamitous opening round.
A minute break before the second round was all Joshua needed to recover. Shortly thereafter, a big right hand, a short-range left and then a clubbing punch sent Prenga to the canvas. He fell onto the bottom rung of the ropes, hanging awkwardly off it.
The referee counted, but Prenga didn’t make it. It was all over. Joshua prevailed in one of the wildest, weirdest, two-round shootouts in modern combat sports history.
The fight ensures Joshua can now move ahead into a Fury mega-fight, tentatively planned for later in the year — a bout Hearn said is already “signed.”
Uncrowned
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