Matchroom Boxing recently announced that Anthony Joshua's next bout will be on July 25 against against Kristian Prenga in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a two-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh.
While not officially announced, it's expected that the second fight of the deal will be a long-awaited battle with Tyson Fury in the fall, in what would be the biggest fight that can currently be made in British boxing.
For a time, it was unclear if Joshua--whose last fight was a sixth round knockout of Jake Paul last December in Miami--would fight again after being in a car crash on Dec. 29 which took the lives of his two friends Sina Ghami and Latif "Latz" Ayodele. Joshua sustained injuries in the incident but has in recent weeks returned to training alongside former rival and unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Besides boxing critics wondering whether Joshua would ever return to the ring, they also wondered whether--if he did--his next bout would be with Fury or a warmup opponent. The answer came with the announcement that Prenga would be Joshua's next appointment.
But just who is Prenga?
For one, he's a fighter with an impressive record, with 20 wins against one defeat, with all wins coming by knockout. However, he has fought mostly journeymen and has no significant, highly ranked opponents on his resume, meaning Joshua will be expected to win convincingly.
But at 6-foot-5 and over 260 pounds, Prenga insists he not only will shock the world but ruin any plans of a Joshua-Fury bout.
"Anthony Joshua is a great fighter, but he made a terrible miscalculation in picking me as his opponent," Prenga said. "This is the kind of fight that changes everything in my life and his. I know they have big plans ahead after this fight. I know they are overlooking me. I'm happy about that. I will derail their plans and shock the world this July in Saudi Arabia."
Though Prenga is talking the talk, few think that he will give Joshua much trouble, meaning that all signs do point towards Joshua vs. Fury happening later this year.
Ring Magazine, which is owned by Alalshikh, has reported that the fight has been signed and will take place in the final three months of this year in the U.K and will be streamed on Netflix.