5 Best Anthony Joshua Wins Ahead of Prenga Fight

Anthony Joshua hasn’t had a real boxing match for almost two years now. Yes, the polava with Jake Paul is still fresh in the memory, but we’d like to pretend that never happened.

Since he was demolished by Daniel Dubois in 2024, Joshua’s boxing career has been on standby. Now, on July 25, AJ is set to make his return to the ring against the relatively-unknown Kristian Prenga on DAZN PPV.

With a megafight against Tyson Fury looming in the distance, Joshua is expected to bowl Prenga over. In terms of his best wins across history, this one certainly wouldn’t come close to the top five.

But this got us thinking – who would make it into a top five of AJ’s best wins? Today, we sought to answer this question and made a list to accommodate it.

5. Dillian Whyte

Joshua’s first major win in the professional ranks came against long-time rival Dillian Whyte. After a bad-tempered build-up that saw the pair trade venomous verbal barbs, anticipation reached a fever pitch by the time they finally came to blows in a professional capacity.

It was an enthralling back-and-forth fight in which AJ had to battle through adversity after Whyte caught him with his trademark left hook early on. Things threatened to spiral out of control when they continued to fight after the bell to signal the end of round one, but thankfully, order was restored.

Joshua began to take control later on in the fight, landing some telling punches and eventually knocking Whyte out with a brutal uppercut in the seventh round.

4. Alexander Povetkin

Alexander Povetkin was beyond his best when he challenged Joshua for the IBF, IBO and WBO World Heavyweight titles, but he still presented enough of a threat for us to include him in our top five.

Once again, AJ had to steel himself when Povetkin had him hurt and broke his nose in the early stages. Joshua was able to recover from this and battle back, slowly wearing the Russian down with his superior output and reach.

Povetkin looked noticeably tired entering the seventh. Joshua was happy to capitalise upon this, landing a vicious combination to send Povetkin crashing to the canvas. To his credit, ‘Sacha’ rose to his feet, but the fight was over. A short follow-up attack from AJ prompted referee Steve Gray to mercifully call a halt to the proceedings as a semi-conscious Povetkin dangled between the ropes.

3. Andy Ruiz Jr. II

In 2019, Andy Ruiz Jr. pulled off the greatest upset in Heavyweight boxing history since Tyson vs Douglas when he stopped Joshua to win the Heavyweight titles. Later that year, AJ was out for revenge – and Ruiz was out to lunch.

AJ came in with an excellent gameplan. He was over ten pounds lighter in the rematch, looking slim and trim, whilst Ruiz arrived in Riyadh looking like a week-old party balloon. This fight was won in AJ’s preparation, rather than in the ring.

Keeping Ruiz at range and using his straight shots to great effect, he won a landslide unanimous decision to regain the titles. An exasperated Ruiz yelled ‘fight me!’ towards the very end of the fight – after months of partying, rather than training, he cut a desperate and sorry figure. He then had the audacity to tout the possibility of a trilogy bout – no thanks, Andy.

2. Joseph Parker

Joshua’s win over Joseph Parker in 2018 was a poor fight, but remains a very solid win on his resume. In a unification bout for AJ’s IBF and IBO titles and Parker’s WBO belt, the Watford native outworked and outclassed the Kiwi champ.

This fight came before Parker hit his prime, but he still presented a serious threat. AJ was given a bit of help from the referee in this one, as he separated the fighters whenever Parker came in close, allowing Joshua to simply pick him off with jabs and crosses.

Regardless, he kept Parker at bay and didn’t allow him to have any meaningful success. It wasn’t pretty, with neither fighter looking to make the fight interesting, but AJ emerged victorious by a comfortable margin on the cards nonetheless.

1. Wladimir Klitschko

Yes, Wladimir Klitschko might have 41 years of age when this fight took place – but if you believe AJ has ever eclipsed this moment before or since, you are kidding yourself. A landmark moment in both the career of Anthony Joshua and British boxing as a whole, it was a night that no-one will ever forget.

A spectacular contest in which both fighters traded knockdowns, AJ knocked ‘Dr. Steelhammer’ down in the fifth, but failed to knock him out. A tired Joshua was then flattened by a massive right cross in the following round. Showing great heart and determination, he rose from the canvas and regained his focus.

AJ had to hang on for a few rounds, but was still firmly in the contest. Then, in the 11th round, a left hook-right uppercut combination stunned Klitschko. Smelling blood, Joshua pounced on the aging warrior, dropping him twice to secure the biggest win of his career. It was rightfully named fight of the year – we would go as far as to call it the best Heavyweight fight of the decade.