British-Nigerian boxer Anthony Joshua has defeated Kristian Prenga in their heavyweight boxing fight at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night.
The 36-year-old recovered from two knockdowns by Prenga in the first round to deliver a brutal second round knockout to win the fight, his first since an auto crash on Lagos-Ibadan expressway in December last year where he lost his two close friends who double as his trainers.
Joshua improved his record to 30 wins in 34 bouts, with 27 of his victories coming via knockout. Prenga however suffered only his second defeat in his 22-fight career.
It is his 10th second round knockout win of his illustrious boxing career in which the Sagamu native has been a two-time unified heavyweight world champion.
Joshua was floored by Prenga’s uppercut within 20 seconds of the fight, but the Olympic champion survived the count. The vulnerable London-raised boxer was floored again second later and barely made the count before recovering to finish the round.
The second round was, however, a sharp contrast to the first, as Joshua landed flurry of punches before he delivered a devastating hook that almost sent Prenga- who did not land a punch in the round- out of the ring.
The victory clears the route for Joshua to face Tyson Fury in the proposed ‘Battle of Britain’ on a date to be announced later this year.