Two-time heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua recovered from a disastrous first round to stop Albanian opponent Kristian Prenga in the second round at the Jeddah Superdome on Saturday evening, ticking what should be one of the final boxes before the all-British showdown with Tyson Fury can be finalised.Joshua was knocked down twice in the first round and looked unsteady on his feet after the first knockdown some 30 seconds into the fight. He was held up by the ropes later on in the round avoiding what looked as though it would have been a third knockdown.But the second round started with Joshua looking more composed and Prenga choosing not to press the advantage he had built in the first round. The Brit landed a solid one-two early in the round and from there Prenga never re-found his feet, allowing Joshua to land a huge right hand that sent Prenga to the canvas and brought an early end to a bizarre see-saw fight.Joshua was floored twice in a stunning opening round (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)This Saudi Arabia fight was designed to set up a long-awaited showdown with Fury, who comfortably defeated Polish opponent Mariusz Wach after seven rounds in Thailand on Friday in his own warm-up bout.A Fury-Joshua fight has been a decade in the making. Contracts have been signed with the blockbuster bout expected to take place later this year, although it remains unclear if that would take place in the UK or the U.S..Prenga was billed as something of a knockout artist having won all 20 of his victories by stoppage, but entered this bout as a relative unknown. The 35-year-old was riding a 14-fight win streak since suffering his lone career defeat at the hands of Giovanni Auriemma in 2017.The Albanian had not, however, previously faced an opponent of Joshua’s calibre or performed on this stage and he was always going to be a massive underdog for this bout.
Anthony Joshua recovers from two knockdowns to beat Kristian Prenga, move closer to Tyson Fury fight
Joshua was knocked down twice in the first round, and looked unsteady on his feet after the first knockdown just 30 seconds into the fight.






