Anthony Joshua suffered two knockdowns – the primary occurring after simply 20 seconds – earlier than recovering to dramatically cease Kristian Prenga within the second spherical of his comeback combat in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The British heavyweight was combating for the primary time since surviving the December automobile crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of his shut pals Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele.
He was sensationally rocked by an enormous uppercut from underdog Prenga within the opening spherical, after which hit the canvas once more later within the spherical.
At that time he regarded on the verge of one of many largest shock defeats in heavyweight historical past, with the long-awaited Tyson Fury combat hanging by a thread.
However Joshua produced one of many biggest escapes of his profession, and now that combat is on.
He unleashed his proper hand within the second spherical, with the ultimate shot sending Albanian Prenga crashing down and forcing the referee to halt the competition.
“It is greater than punch energy. That was spirit, that was Latz, that was Sina, that was the households. It hurts to even discuss it. It has been powerful,” Joshua, 36, mentioned.
He choked up and stepped away from the microphone, earlier than including: “It is my brothers. I do not need to discuss it.”
There had been hypothesis fellow Briton Fury may make a look regardless of insisting he wouldn’t attend.
However the grasp of thoughts video games stayed true to his phrase, with Fury nowhere to be seen barely 24 hours on from his personal warm-up win over Mariusz Wach in Thailand.
“I respect every part he has accomplished and every part that he has achieved, however as a combating particular person, we’re right here now. I hope the followers shall be in for a beautiful deal with,” Joshua mentioned concerning the prospect of combating Fury.
Contracts have been signed, however the venue and date for a combat greater than a decade within the making are nonetheless unknown.
This chaotic evening, nonetheless, belonged to Joshua in a victory cast via adversity throughout essentially the most tough months of his life.
