Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury already had the mega-fight between them planned for later this year, but both bruising big men decided it was wise to book tune-up fights before they traded heavy leather against one another.
For Fury’s part, he opted to face off against journeymen Mariusz Wach on Friday July 24, 2026 in Thailand, a fight that was just bad for many reasons. For starters, one would have thought that “Gypsy King” already had his tune-up fight out of the way after defeating Arslanbek Makhmudov
in April of this year, so facing another big man with a rather tepid resume seemed pointless and risky.
To make matters worse, fight fans weren’t even able to tune in to watch because Fury was too busy trying to promote his Netflix reality deries, At Home With The Furys, which is where you will be able to see the full bout months after it took place. For now, you can see the highlights of Fury”s late TKO win here.
As for Joshua, he signed on the dotted line to face relatively unknown big man, Kristian Prenga the following day (Sat., July 25), but that fight cost a whopping $60 on Dazn PPV. And while many thought this would be a cakewalk for Joshua (which it ultimately turned out to be), the big man suffered a pretty good scare in the opening round after Prenga clocked him with an uppercut that sent him crashing to the canvas. After “A.J” answered the count, he wasn’t exactly out of the woods as Prenga continued to pile on the punishment, dropping him one more time within the first three minutes of the fight.
Thankfully, Joshua managed to escape the opening round, and ultimately went on to piece Prenga up to secure a thunderous technical knockout (TKO) win in the second round.
Tune-up fights aren’t really new in the sport of boxing, but it doesn’t mean I care for them all that much. Fury and Joshua are pros at the highest level and have taken on and defeated some of the best in the sport, reaching the pinnacle of the fight game at one point in their respective careers, so they don’t really need to warm up with a scrimmage against the junior varsity players.
It’s just silly.
That said, many — myself included — are wondering if it was the right move after all. While Prenga nearly put cold water on the proposed Joshua vs. Fury fight, it seemed like the right call this time arkund given all Joshua has been through over the last few months. After knocking out Jake Paul in Dec. 2025 (see it here), Joshua was involved in a horrific car accident that claimed the lives of a couple of his close friends. Seven months later, the bruising Brit decided to get back into the swing of things, and you could just tell he wasn’t right in the first round.
While he did manage to turn it around and get the win, one can’t help but to wonder what would have happened had he jumped straight into the Fury fight. It’s a safe bet if we’re assuming Fury likely would’ve finished the fight had he had Joshua in trouble in the very first round like Prenga did.
So in hindsight, perhaps a layup of a matchup for Joshua was the right call in this instance, even if the risk almost derailed the mega-matchup. Being in the right mental state is equally, if not more important than being physically fit in combat sports.
That said, are you a fan of “tune up” fights in boxing? Would you have had an issue if Conor McGregor opted for a tune-up after years on the sidelines before facing Max Holloway? Can you imagine the criticism had he — or any other world class MMA fighter — taken that route?
