The fallout has continued from Anthony Joshua‘s win over Kristian Prenga as trainer Don Charles has now had his say.
Joshua was widely expected to have an easy night against Prenga, an Albanian fighter who is not ranked in the top 10 and had not previously fought anyone of note.
He did have 20 KO wins from 21 total bouts on his record, and he got off to a great start. Within the first round, he had Joshua down on the canvas not just once, but twice.
However, after the break between the first two rounds, Joshua came back more composed, hunted Prenga down and stopped him with a combination that left him unable to beat the referee’s count.
Despite the rocky start, speaking to Seconds Out, Daniel Dubois’s trainer Charles took the view that a win is a win.
“Basically, all that matters is, from my understanding, my experience over the years, my understanding is that all you’ve got to do is win. Sometimes you win ugly, yeah? It’s a two-horse race and someone’s going to win and someone’s going to lose.
“This is heavyweight boxing. This is what people pay for. Someone most likely is going to get knocked out. What we saw on Saturday is that ‘AJ’ got knocked down and he showed character to get up and waste no time and execute the game plan and get his knockout KO victory.”
He was asked if it was a shock to see Joshua go down.
“Well, yes, of course. That was not the plan by ‘AJ’ but we have to give credit to the opposition. It was an opportunity for Prenga to change his life.”
Joshua now looks ahead to the long-awaited showdown with Tyson Fury, who himself looked off his best when he beat the veteran Mariusz Wach the night before in Thailand. It is expected the British former world champions will meet in November, though a location is yet to be confirmed.
