Teary Anthony Joshua Survives Scare, Knocks Out Kristian Prenga, Dedicates Victory To Late Friends

By Akinwale Kasali

After the unfortunate Car crash incident that led to death of Anthony Joshua’s friends, Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, he took to the ring and kept on course for a showdown with British heavyweight rival Tyson Fury later this year.

After recovering from a two-time knock-down Joshua manned up to secure a second-round knockout of Kristian Prenga in a wild clash in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Joshua endured a dismal first three minutes, hitting the canvas twice, firstly from a vicious uppercut, with the Albanian knockout specialist eyeing a seismic shock.

But he quickly recovered.

It was as if his two friends, Latin ‘Latz’  Ayodele and Sina Gbams, who died in a tragic vehicle accident in Nigeria while in Joshua’s company to Shagamu, his hometown, spoke to him. It was like they asked him to brace up and secure victory for them.

So, Prenga was demolished shortly after by right hands in AJ’s first outing since December 2025 car crash.

The 36-year-old choked up when asked in the ring about his friends and the emotions of the past seven months, but said his second-round revival was down to more than pure punching power.

Speaking he won, bottled-up emotion got the better of him. He broke down and shed tears for his lost friends.

“That was spirit, that was Latz, that was Sina. That was family,” he said.

Albania’s Prenga, a knockout artist who had 20 wins inside the distance in 21 prior fights, sent Joshua to the canvas with a right uppercut just 20 seconds into the bout.

He had Joshua on the ropes again, his legs shaky, before sending him down a second time late in the first round.

But Joshua steadied in the second, backing Prenga into the corner behind his jab, shrugging off more heavy blows from the Albanian before inflicting a damage of his own with his left hand.

A brutal combination capped by a big right finally sent Prenga crashing through the ropes to end it at 2:43 of the second round.

Joshua and Fury now appear set for their “Battle of Britain” in November, at a venue still to be announced.

Fury, like Joshua, a former two-time heavyweight world champion, did his part to make the long-anticipated fight happen, stopping Mariusz Wach in a low-key bout in Pattaya, Thailand, on Friday.

Fury, 37, outclassed Wach in front in the Thai resort city, chipping away relentlessly at the 46-year-old until he was pulled out by his corner in the seventh round.

It was Fury’s second win in as many contests this year in his return from a 16-month layoff.