Kristian Prenga vs Anthony Joshua Preview July 25th, 2026
Former WBA/IBF/IBO/WBO World Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua of Watford, England returns to the ring for the first time since his near-fatal car crash this Saturday, July 25th to take on hard-hitting Kristian Prenga of Albania. The 12-rounder from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia can be seen live in most nations on DAZN pay-per-view. Joshua last fought in a novelty match in December when he stopped Jake Paul in the sixth round. However in his previous outing in September, 2024 he was dropped in the first, third and fourth rounds and then knocked out in the fifth by Daniel Dubois in a shot at the IBF Title. Joshua also fought six months earlier in another novelty bout when he knocked out mixed-martial artist Francis Ngannou in the second round. Prenga’s last outing came in February when he stopped Joe Jones in just 117 seconds.
Prenga vs Joshua Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Kristian Prenga + 1400
- Anthony Joshua -4000
My Pick
The 35-year-old Prenga enters the ring with an impressive mark of 20-1 with 20 Ko’s and has boxed just 53 rounds since making his pro boxing debut 10 years ago. He stands 6-feet-5-inches tall but unfortunately has an unlisted reach. Prenga fights out of Edgewater, New Jersey and was formerly a two-time European kickboxing champion. He’s definitely known for his power as all 20 of his wins have been by stoppage.
Prenga is currently riding a 14-fight winning streak as his lone defeat came at the hands of Giovanni Auriemma on points over eight rounds in 2017 after having a point deducted in the sixth round. Prenga has seven first round knockouts, including his last three straight. He has also recorded seven in the second round; three in the third round; one in the fourth; one in the fifth and one in the sixth round. He has never gone past the eighth round and has only fought in three scheduled 10-rounders with the rest of his fights being set for four, six or eight rounds.
While there’s no denying his power it must be noted that Prenga has faced limited opposition during his pro career even though 16 of his 20 opponents did enter the ring with a winning record. Most casual boxing fans won’t recognize any of his opponents while hardcore followers will likely be familiar with Joey Dawejko, Juan Torres and Willie Jake Jr. He also halted Samuel Crossed in the third round in 2023 for the vacant North American Boxing Association Heavyweight Belt.
Joshua now 36 years old and is a former 2012 Olympic gold medalist who won the IBF Heavyweight Title in his 16th pro bout by stopping Charles Martin in the second round in 2016. He enters the fight with a record of 29-4 with 26 Ko’s with two of those wins and knockouts coming against non-traditional boxers in Jake Paul and Francis Ngannou. He ended his first 14 pro bouts and 16 of his first 18 within the first three rounds and 89.7 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. He’s gone the distance in four of his last 10 fights and has lost four of the past 11. However his last four wins have all been by stoppage.
Joshua stopped Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round in 2017 to claim the WBA Title and vacant IBO Crown. He added the WBO Belt with a unanimous decision win over Joseph Parker the next year but lost all of his belts in 2019 when Andy Ruiz stopped him in the seventh round in Joshua’s first fight outside of the UK. He beat Ruiz by unanimous decision in their rematch six months later to regain the titles. Joshua defended them once by stopping Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round a year later and lost them again when he ran into Oleksandr Usyk in September, 2021 and also lost the rematch to Usyk 11 months later by unanimous and split decisions respectively.
Joshua also has wins over Jermaine Franklin, Otto Wallin, Robert Helenius, Carlos Takam, Alexander Povetkin, Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale, Dillian Whyte and Kevin Johnson along the way. His chin has always been a bit of a question mark and his power seemed to have evaded him for a spell. As far as his chin goes, Klitschko had him down and apparently out in the sixth round in 2017, but Joshua came back and stopped him. He was also dropped four times by Ruiz in their first fight and rocked a couple of times by Usyk. And of course, Dubois decked him four times and knocked him out in 2024.
After turning pro in 2013, Joshua has racked up 173 rounds of pro experience. He measures 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 82-inch reach so is an inch taller than Prenga. Joshua is arguably a bit too muscle bound, but possesses pretty good boxing skills even if he is a bit robotic. He has decent mobility and upper body movement as well as a stiff jab but usually tries to stay away from slugfests if possible these days while he attempts to box his opponents and use his size to advantage.
The reason Joshua now tries to avoid going toe-to-toe and prefers to box his opponents, such as he did in the rematch with Ruiz, is because he has the habit of losing his legs when getting nailed on the chin. Of course, he also has to stand his ground and fight back when tested though so this has proven to be a bit of a dilemma for him and it was his downfall in his defeat to Dubois. He usually attempts to use his jab and boxing skills as much as possible but will open things up if he senses his opponents is hurt.
Prediction…
Joshua and Prenga are two aging heavyweights with power while Joshua has a huge edge in experience as he’s a former Olympic and two-time world heavyweight champion. On the other side of the coin he is known for having somewhat of a glass chin and that could be a problem with a power puncher like Prenga. I’m assuming that Prenga has a solid chin but we won’t find out until Joshua lands a clean shot on him. If he can take a punch, then Joshua could be in trouble. Joshua definitely has the power and skills to beat Prenga but of course he needs to be wary of his power as well as his jab. Once again, nothing here should come as a surprise but considering their careers overall it would be hard to go against Joshua in a fight in which his opponent has faced moderate opposition up to now.
Joshua’s experience should be the difference maker.
Play Joshua -4000 @ BetOnline.ag
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Anthony Joshua betting • Kristian Prenga betting