Anthony Joshua knocked out Kristian Prenga at 2:43 of Round 2 on Saturday night at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia, surviving two first-round knockdowns to score his 27th career knockout and move to 30-4.

Prenga (20-2) caught Joshua with a right hand inside the first 30 seconds and dropped him. He found him again before the round was out. Judges had it 10-7 Prenga after Round 1. The arena was already loud about what might happen next.

Round 2 was a different fight entirely. Joshua settled behind his jab, timed Prenga’s entries, and unloaded a right hand down the middle that put Prenga on the floor. A right hook followed as Prenga tried to rise. He went through the ropes. Stoppage at 2:43.

“I can’t be stop. I can’t be denied,” Joshua said in the ring. A few seconds later, still catching his breath: “He’s a strong guy! I think Eddie wants to sign him now!”

This was the moment the finish landed.

What Happened to Anthony Joshua Before the Prenga Fight?

On December 29, 2025, Joshua was in a vehicle on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Nigeria when it crashed. Two people traveling with him, Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, did not survive. Joshua was pulled from the wreckage and hospitalised.

This was the moment the news broke.

In the months that followed, he spoke about them with a restraint that was clearly costing him something. “I didn’t even realise how special they are. I’ll just be walking with them and cracking jokes with them, not even knowing God kept me in the presence of great men,” he said.

He was deliberate about where he placed the weight of the grief. “I don’t make it about me; I make it about them. I make it about the mums and the dads of the two boys.” And on going on: “It’s not about me, it’s bigger than me.”

He had beaten Jake Paul in Miami just weeks before the crash. The question afterward was not when he would fight again — it was whether he could get back to a place where boxing felt like the point. The comeback announcement came in the spring. Prenga was supposed to be the measuring stick. Two knockdowns in Round 1 made it feel more like a crisis. Round 2 turned it into a statement.

What Is Next For Anthony Joshua After Beating Prenga?

Tyson Fury. Eddie Hearn confirmed it postfight — the contract is signed and done. Wembley Stadium on Netflix. The heavyweight showdown the sport has been trying to make for years now has a real path.

Fury had beaten Mariusz Wach in Thailand the night before. Both men are now pointed at each other with a venue and a platform locked in. If the November 2026 timeline holds, this is the biggest boxing event to land at Wembley in years.

Joshua left the ring knowing exactly where things stand. The two knockdowns in Round 1 will be a footnote. The finish in Round 2 is what carries into the Fury fight camp. Whether that is enough when he steps in with Fury at Wembley is the only question that matters now.

DAZN had the full call as the finish unfolded.