Anthony Joshua will return to the ring against Kristian Prenga on July 25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before heading into a blockbuster all-British fight with Tyson Fury, Turki Alalshikh announced Monday.
Joshua vs. Prenga will stream on DAZN worldwide, while a matchup between Joshua and Fury is expected to take place on Netflix.
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A Joshua vs. Fury mega-fight has been anticipated for more than a decade. The pair even shared the ring in a notorious 2011 sparring session, while Joshua was still plying his trade in the unpaid ranks.
From February 2020 to September 2021, the two Brits held all four of boxing’s heavyweight titles between them. A fight agreement was struck at that time, but an 11th-hour courtroom verdict forced Fury to comply with a trilogy against Wilder rather than face his British rival. Fury knocked out Wilder again in a heavyweight fight for the ages, however Joshua lost his three titles to Usyk in late 2021, which crushed a dream undisputed title matchup between the Brits.
Now, with both men nearing the end of their storied careers, the pair have finally agreed to share the ring, but Joshua must first win on July 25 to keep those hopes alive.
Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs), a former two-time unified heavyweight champion, has fought just once since his brutal knockout loss to Daniel Dubois for the IBF title in September 2024.
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Following the Dubois fight, Joshua underwent elbow surgery and once again changed training teams, linking up with ex-foe Usyk’s team in Valencia, Spain, headed by Iegor Golub.
Joshua returned from the Dubois defeat to knock out Jake Paul in Round 6 of their heavily-publicized Netflix bout this past December. The win allowed “AJ” to gain some newfound fanfare, and he was expected to carry that momentum into a clash with kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven in March. However just 10 days after his win over Paul, tragedy struck, as the Brit was involved in a car crash that took the lives of two of his closest friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodel.
The former champion was not majorly injured as a result of the crash but is understood to have suffered whiplash and internal injuries and has been recovering since.
Prenga (20-1, 20 KOs), an Albanian now based in New Jersey, has won 16 fights in a row since suffering an upset loss at the hands of Giovanni Auriemma in 2017. Prenga, 35, has feasted off a low-level of opposition, collecting minor titles in the process, which include the WBA Fedecentro and NABA straps. He last fought in February, stopping Joe Jones in the opening round.
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Fury (35-2-1, 24 KOs) is a former two-time heavyweight champion. He suffered both defeats of his career to Usyk in 2024, with the first bout between the pair being for boxing’s undisputed heavyweight title. After a short-lived retirement, Fury returned to his winning ways by beating Arslanbek Makhmudov earlier in April.
It is currently unclear if Fury will also fight again before taking on Joshua.
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