{"id":17730,"date":"2026-07-26T11:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T06:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17730"},"modified":"2026-07-26T11:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T06:28:10","slug":"anthony-joshua-survives-two-knockdowns-in-win-over-kristian-prenga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17730","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Joshua survives two knockdowns in win over Kristian Prenga"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p>JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia \u2014 Former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua recovered from two knockdowns to knock out Kristian Prenga in the second round of a dramatic non-title heavyweight fight on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua was flattened by an uppercut inside 30 seconds. He beat the count but looked seriously shaken.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>Then Prenga laid out Joshua again, and again Joshua rose before the end of the count and survived to the bell.<\/p>\n<p>A quick end was expected but nobody thought it would be Prenga\u2019s. Joshua unleashed a flurry of fists and finished Prenga with a right hook, sending the Albanian through the bottom of the ropes.<\/p>\n<p>The turnaround shocked even heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk, whose face ringside was caught by TV cameras.<\/p>\n<p>The comeback also possibly saved an all-British showdown between Joshua and Tyson Fury. <\/p>\n<p>Joshua\u2019s manager Eddie Hearn claims his fighter and Fury have signed a contract to meet for the first time later this year, but on condition they came through warmup bouts this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope the fans will be in for a lovely treat,\u201d Joshua told the crowd about fighting Fury.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Fury played his part by coming out of retirement this year and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/25\/sports\/tyson-fury-seemingly-kisses-opponent-mid-match-in-wild-scene\/\">on Friday forcing 46-year-old Polish journeyman Mariusz Wach to retire in round seven<\/a> in Pattaya, Thailand.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua almost blew his part of the claimed contract.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><button class=\"button button--modal-trigger\" aria-label=\"Open the image in a modal.\" data-modal-image=\"40093333\"><br \/>\n\t<default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"icon-plus\" fill=\"#fff\" viewbox=\"0 0 1033 1000\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\"><default:path d=\"M380 364V0h273v355h380v290H653v355H380V645H0V355h380v9z\"\/><\/default:svg><br \/>\n<\/button><br \/>\n<img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40093333\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Anthony Joshua (right) delivers a right jab during his heavyweight bout win over Kristian Prenga at Jeddah Superdome on July 25, 2026 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.\" 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https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=144,96&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 144w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=107,71&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 107w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=93,62&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 93w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=84,56&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 84w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=60,40&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 60w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=105,70&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 105w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=81,54&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 81w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=200,133&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 200w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=231,154&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 231w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=322,215&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 322w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=662,441&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 662w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=90,60&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 90w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=120,80&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 120w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=1200,800&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 1200w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=1038,692&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 1038w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=87,58&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 87w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Anthony-Joshua.jpg?resize=50,33&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 885px) 100vw, 885px\"\/><figcaption>Anthony Joshua (right) delivers a right jab during his heavyweight bout win over Kristian Prenga at Jeddah Superdome on July 25, 2026 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Prenga brought a 20-1 record with 20 KOs into the matchup with Joshua, and looked every bit the knockout artist.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua was fighting for the first time since surviving a car crash in Nigeria in December that injured him and killed his friends Sina Ghami and Latif \u2018Latz\u2019 Ayodele. Joshua acknowledged his friends straight after improving his record to 30-4 (27 KOs).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s more than punch power,\u201d Joshua said of his knockout punch. \u201cThat was spirit. That was Latz and Sina. That was the family. You know what I mean? That hurts even talking about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe (Prenga) gave me a good test but this is what champions do, we rise. We get knocked down and stand up. That is life, that is life\u2019s motto.\u201d  <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia \u2014 Former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua recovered from two knockdowns to knock out Kristian Prenga in the second round of a dramatic non-title heavyweight fight on Saturday. Joshua was flattened by an uppercut inside 30 seconds. He beat the count but looked seriously shaken. Then Prenga laid out Joshua again, and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-49wku6iqd-1785046191162.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1785031807&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}