Anthony Joshua got up off the canvas twice and marked his return to the ring with a dramatic second-round knockout victory over Kristian Prenga on Saturday ahead of Joshua's planned blockbuster clash with Tyson Fury.
Joshua survived two knockdowns in the opening round to beat Prenga in Saudi Arabia. Prenga caught Joshua with a right hand and a right uppercut in the opening seconds of the fight that sent the former two-time heavyweight champion to the canvas.
Joshua quickly got up but looked unsteady and was knocked down a second time before the end of the first round.
Joshua looked to calm things down in Round 2, setting up his jab and tagging Prenga with a right hand. The Brit then landed two more huge right hands that dropped Prenga, who slumped against the ropes. Prenga never recovered, and the fight was waved off.
"Where is he? There's two sides to this. Fire. And respect," Joshua said of Fury afterward. "I respect everything he's done. We're here now."
Though there was speculation that a long-awaited bout between Joshua and Fury could be announced Saturday, Fury did not appear in the ring, and neither a date nor location for the fight has been announced.
On Friday, Fury beat Mariusz Wach in Thailand.
Joshua's win came just seven months after he was a passenger in a car crash that killed his two close friends Sina Ghami and Latif "Latz" Ayodele.
Before the fight, Joshua noted that boxing was his "purpose" in life. He said he wanted to look after the families of his friends, whose names were honored on the ring canvas.
"It's more than punch power. That was spirit -- that was Latz, Sina. It hurts even talking about it. They are my brothers," Joshua said of the tragedy as he fought back tears.
"No one can imagine what he's been through," promoter Eddie Hearn said. "In the first round, I said, 'We have come back too soon.' He needed boxing to get through this. The camp allowed him to focus his mind when he was going through grief."
When asked how badly he was hurt in the first round, Joshua said, "I am still here to talk to you now! [Prenga] is a strong guy, you know. He is going to do well; he has a bright future.
"I am a serious fighter; I know my way around the ring. He came and gave me a good test. But this is what champions do. We keep going. That's life."
