Roy Jones Jr is the latest big name to weigh in on Anthony Joshua‘s dramatic battle with Kristian Prenga.
Joshua was going up against Prenga in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in a bout that was expected to be a straightforward affair in order to set up the Brit’s long-awaited showdown with domestic rival Tyson Fury later this year.
It certainly didn’t transpire that way though, as ‘AJ’ was sensationally knocked down twice in the first round, before recovering and claiming the second round knockout win to spare his blushes and avoid being on the wrong end of a huge upset.
Many boxing figures have already offered their take on how things unfolded, with boxing legend and four-weight world champion Jones Jr now chiming in with a surprise verdict.
Speaking to All The Smoke Boxing, Jones Jr looked back to when Joshua was linked to a fight with former super middleweight king Andre Ward, claiming that if ‘AJ’ had been in the ring with Ward, he may have struggled to survive the first round.
“When AJ went down two times in that first round, I said ‘holy smokes, if this was Andre Ward, this fight may be over right now.’
“I got to give kudos to him because he came back after those two knockdowns, and he got dude out of there in the second round, but immediately I thought ‘if this is Andre, I don’t think he gets out of the first round…this would be a problem right now.'”
Ward playfully called out Joshua for a fight last year, but having not competed since 2017 and never above the light heavyweight limit, it was highly unlikely that anything was ever going to come to fruition.
Instead, Joshua’s attention is now firmly set on Fury, where he will know that he likely have to improve in order to overcome ‘The Gypsy King.’
