Anthony Joshua suffered two knockdowns – the first happening after just 20 seconds – before recovering to dramatically stop Kristian Prenga in the second round of his comeback fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The British heavyweight was fighting for the first time since surviving the December car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele.
He was sensationally rocked by a huge uppercut from underdog Prenga in the opening round, and then hit the canvas again later in the round.
At that point he looked on the verge of one of the biggest shock defeats in heavyweight history, with the long-awaited Tyson Fury fight hanging by a thread.
But Joshua produced one of the greatest escapes of his career, and now that fight is on.
He unleashed his right hand in the second round, with the final shot sending Albanian Prenga crashing down and forcing the referee to halt the contest.
“It’s more than punch power. That was spirit, that was Latz, that was Sina, that was the families. It hurts to even talk about it. It has been tough,” Joshua, 36, said.
He choked up and stepped away from the microphone, before adding: “It’s my brothers. I don’t want to talk about it.”
There had been speculation fellow Briton Fury might make a appearance despite insisting he would not attend.
But the master of mind games stayed true to his word, with Fury nowhere to be seen barely 24 hours on from his own warm-up win over Mariusz Wach in Thailand.
“I respect everything he has done and everything that he has achieved, but as a fighting person, we’re here now. I hope the fans will be in for a lovely treat,” Joshua said about the prospect of fighting Fury.
Contracts have been signed, but the venue and date for a fight more than a decade in the making are still unknown.
This chaotic night, however, belonged to Joshua in a victory forged through adversity during the most difficult months of his life.
