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Anthony Joshua faces Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on 25 July 2026, in his first fight back since the car crash near Lagos, Nigeria last December that killed his close friends and long-serving coaches Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele.
The bout is also being billed as his last assignment before a long-mooted meeting with Tyson Fury. Joshua arrives at 29-4 with 26 knockouts, Prenga at 20-1 with all 20 of his wins coming inside the distance.
Anyone checking the Joshua vs Prenga odds before fight week is really asking one question. Does Joshua come out fast after time away, or does he need rounds to find his range?
How he answered after Ruiz
His clearest answer so far came against Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019. Six months after losing his world titles in New York, Joshua opened the rematch by cutting Ruiz above the eye in round one and never let him settle, working behind the jab and lateral movement for the full 36 minutes. He won a wide unanimous decision, with scores of 118-110, 118-110, and 119-109. There was no easing in. The gameplan started the moment the bell rang and held for twelve rounds.
A slower build against Franklin
His comeback after losing to Oleksandr Usyk told a different story. Seven months out, against Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in April 2023, Joshua worked behind his jab and leaned on clinching rather than pressing home an advantage. He outlanded Franklin 117 punches to 58 across the full contest, according to CompuBox figures relayed by CBS Sports, yet round-by-round updates from that broadcast describe him looking unsure in round three, with heavy clinching dominating rounds eight to ten.
His trainer at the time, Derrick James, said after the fight that he had wanted Joshua to raise his work rate in the closing rounds and that it would come with time. Joshua's own best spell, landing his uppercuts and right hands with regularity, did not arrive until round eleven.
Two comebacks, two different fighters
Against Ruiz, a puncher whose style he already understood from their first fight, Joshua came out sharp immediately. Against Franklin, a durable but limited operator he had not fought before, he took most of a twelve-round fight to open up.
Prenga's profile, an unfamiliar puncher who has never shared a ring with anyone near Joshua's level, sits closer to Franklin's than Ruiz's. That does not decide the fight. It does suggest his output has, at least once before, stayed low for long stretches against opposition he had not studied on tape, before rising later than expected.
What this means for the markets
That history matters more for how the fight might be watched than for who wins it. Markets across boxing betting that price the contest by round or method of victory are pricing in a fast start from Joshua. His last two comebacks suggest that is not always how it goes. Prenga's job is to survive whichever Joshua turns up first. Joshua's, based on his own recent record, is to make sure this is the comeback where he does not need half the fight to work it out.
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