Anthony Joshua is planning to fight Tyson Fury at the end of the year, but promoters are first giving “AJ” a tuneup fight in the form of regional bruiser Kristian Prenga. They’ll go head-to-head on July 25 in Riyadh in what marks the first appearance for Joshua since his fatal car crash last year in Nigeria.
Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs) opened at -2500 on the moneyline against +1100 for Prenga (20-1, 20 KOs), according to BetOnline.ag.
“He certainly shouldn’t be in the ring with a doorman and that’s what
Kristian Prenga is,” boxing promoter Lou DiBella told Ariel Helwani. “I know him very well. I tried to sign him multiple times as an opponent who sold tickets for Broadway Boxing to fight other pedestrian sort of heavyweights. He is a very physically strong, just cockstrong dude. He’s just like a doorman — like, literally a doorman at a nightclub kind of guy. But you wouldn’t want to be hit flush by him if you weren’t looking, he might hurt you.”
Conversely, Joshua is an underdog against Fury (35-2-1, 24 KOs), clocking in at +120 on the moneyline against -150 for the “Gypsy King.”
“Does Prenga belong near Anthony Joshua? He doesn’t belong in the same friggin’ gym,” DiBella added. “Doesn’t belong in the same state or country. He doesn’t belong in a sparring session. In fact, the people around Anthony wouldn’t really pick him as a sparring partner against a good heavyweight because he’s not gonna give you that kind of work. You know, he has a lot of knockouts on his record. He’s got a 21-1 record, even though he fought Bozo the Clowns.”
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