Who is Kristian Prenga? Anthony Joshua's next opponent explained

Anthony Joshua returns to the ring on July 25 and his opponent is a name few fight fans will recognise. Kristian Prenga, a 35-year-old heavyweight from Albania, has been handed the job of standing between Joshua and a long-awaited fight with Tyson Fury.

The pair meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of an Esports World Cup event streamed live on DAZN, with the winner pencilled in to face Fury in November. Early markets for the Anthony Joshua vs Kristian Prenga oddsreflect just how big an underdog Prenga is considered against a two-time former world heavyweight champion.

Joshua's most recent fight came against Jake Paul in Miami, a bout sanctioned as a professional contest for both men. Prenga now offers a far more conventional assignment, a career heavyweight rather than a cruiserweight moving up in search of a bigger occasion.

Prenga's background

Prenga was born in Orosh, Albania, and now lives and trains in Edgewater, New Jersey. He stands six feet five inches tall, giving him plenty of range, though he gives up four inches in height to Fury.

Record and fighting style

Prenga carries a 20-1 professional record, and all 20 of his wins have come by knockout. His only defeat arrived in 2017, a unanimous decision loss to Italian journeyman Giovanni Auriemma. He was last in action in February, stopping Joe Jones inside the opening round.

Stylistically, Prenga is a long, awkward boxer-mover who leans on his jab and his reach. He throws a wide variety of uppercuts and is a capable body puncher, with a straight right hand and a left hook to the body accounting for most of his early finishes.

Titles and the biggest name on his record

Prenga is not ranked by any of the four major heavyweight sanctioning bodies. He did briefly hold the North American Boxing Association title in 2023, stopping the unheralded Samuel Crossed in the third round to claim it, a regional belt rather than a world title.

The most recognisable name on Prenga's record is Joey Dawejko, a well-travelled American heavyweight. Dawejko was once rumoured to have troubled Joshua in sparring, ahead of Joshua's first fight with Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019, an unusual thread connecting the two heavyweights before they ever shared a ring themselves.

What Joshua needs to avoid

For Joshua, the danger is straightforward. Prenga has stopped every opponent he has beaten, and a 100% knockout ratio, even against limited opposition, is not a stat to dismiss lightly. A slow start would hand a little-known heavyweight the biggest win of his career and derail the Fury fight before it can be made.

A fight with plenty riding on it

A Joshua-Fury fight has been discussed for years without either man committing to it, which is part of why so much attention has landed on a relatively unknown opponent standing in the way. Beyond the result itself, this fight decides whether Joshua and Fury actually meet in November.

The wider boxing odds market around the card reflects how much value bookmakers are placing on an all-British heavyweight fight later this year.

Prenga has never gone beyond six rounds as a professional. On July 25, he shares a ring with a two-time world heavyweight champion for the first time in his career.