Anthony Joshua’s dramatic comeback knockout of Kristian Prenga left Eddie Hearn celebrating by the end of the night, but the Matchroom promoter admitted his thoughts were very different after the opening round.
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Joshua climbed off the canvas twice before stopping Prenga in the second round at the Jeddah Superdome, surviving a scare that nearly derailed his comeback.
“When he got dropped, I was like, that’s career over,” Hearn said to Charlie Parsons at The Stomping Ground. “I’m kind of thinking to myself, ‘You know what? I’m proud of him for even getting back in the ring.’ If it ends like this, he should be really proud of the fact that he even returned to boxing. He had 24 breaks in his ribs or something. He couldn’t move, was in hospital for weeks and weeks. To even be in the ring was incredible.”
Hearn said Joshua’s recovery changed everything.
“He held on. He walked onto an uppercut and somehow found a way to recover,” Hearn said. “When he got back to the stool, I felt if he could just find his legs, this guy had thrown a lot of punches in the first round and was going to wear himself out. AJ has incredible knockout power. It doesn’t matter if he’s hurt. He has the ability to take you out with one punch.”
Joshua answered those concerns by stopping Prenga in the second round, but Hearn did not ignore the warning signs. He believes the performance should not overshadow the determination Joshua displayed by overcoming the knockdowns and finishing the fight.
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Last Updated on 2026/07/25 at 8:30 PM
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