Carl Frampton has weighed in on Anthony Joshua‘s last fight against Kristian Prenga.
Joshua returned to the ring in July for the first time since last December, when he took six rounds to knock out the overmatched Jake Paul.
That fight came more than a year after his previous contests world title shot with Daniel Dubois in September 2024 that ended in a disastrous early knockout for Joshua.
He was also dealing with the fact that a few weeks after facing Paul, he was involved in a car accident in Nigeria that saw him lose his two close friends and team members, which was always going to have a bearing on his mental state the first time he returned to action.
And so it proved: he was knocked down twice in the first round against the unheralded Prenga, before gathering himself and winning by knockout before the end of the second round.
Speaking to Boxing Now, Frampton was asked for his thoughts on Joshua’s performance.
“Very brave.”
He did, however, qualify that with some extra context.
“I think the first round was disastrous. It’s a criticism you can throw at ‘AJ’ a lot, that he starts very slow and tries to warm up into the fight. But you can’t really afford to do that as a heavyweight when they push so hard.
“Strange performance, legs looked to be a little stiff, looked to be an issue with he legs that he didn’t really talk about, but again can’t question his bravery coming back and doing what he done.”
Fans hope all roads now lead to a showdown with Tyson Fury in an all-British heavyweight contest that is expected to take place in New York in November this year.
