Kristian Prenga very nearly caused one of the biggest upsets heavyweight boxing has ever seen when he fought Anthony Joshua on Saturday.
The 35-year-old Albanian boxer had had just 21 fights going into the contest. He had won all but one of those, and all by knockout, but only against limited opposition, with the biggest win of his career coming against American gatekeeper Joey Dawejko back in October 2024.
He was very much picked as a beatable return opponent for Joshua, who had not fought since his KO win over Jake Paul in December last year.
After that fight, Joshua was involved in a car accident, which killed two of his close friends and team members so the fight with Prenga was very much a tune-up as he works towards the much-anticipated showdown with Tyson Fury later this year.
However, it started disastrously for the former two-time world champion as he was put down twice in the first round. AJ then came out for the second with much more intent, eventually landing a combination late on that floored Prenga and left him unable to beat the count.
Speaking to Boxing King Media, Prenga was asked what his plan was going into the contest.
“I think I’m going to drop him, and in the second round too, but it didn’t happen.”
He was then asked if he meant to get off to the flying start he did.
“Yes, I trained for that. My plan was to start fast. I wanted to make everybody proud, but it’s not happened.”
