Anthony Joshua vs Kristian Prenga – Can Prenga Beat AJ?

Let’s be honest – when Kristian Prenga was announced as the opponent for Anthony Joshua’s next fight before his proposed battle with Tyson Fury, we were all a little underwhelmed. An unrecognisable name with few impressive wins on his resume, many of us expected AJ to challenge himself more – especially for a DAZN PPV.

Of course, having been out of the ring for so long (no, the Jake Paul fight doesn’t count), AJ needed a soft touch to gauge where he is at.

Joshua and Eddie Hearn will not want to risk such an opulent payday on a risky opponent – but is Prenga more of a live dog than Matchroom initially thought?

We took a look back back through some of Prenga’s previous fights to see what he is all about. To give a quick answer to the question in the title – yes, Prenga can beat Joshua. This is the Heavyweight division, after all – anything can happen in boxing’s marquee division. But how likely is this outcome? Here’s what we think.

Previously, we developed a piece similar to this one, where we asked ourselves if another major underdog – Dave Allen – could have beaten Filip Hrgovic. Spoilers – Allen did not beat Hrgovic.

Kristian Prenga Key Strengths

First of all, let’s take a look at what Prenga does well. The first point is pretty obvious – with all of his 20 wins coming within the distance, one doesn’t need to thoroughly research him to understand that he’s a very powerful puncher.

In particular, his right cross is a deadly weapon – especially when thrown from mid-range, which is his preferred distance. He often throws it in succession when his opponents are hurt, making him an aggressive, determined finisher. Against AJ, this could be a ticket to victory – we all know how poor Joshua’s recovery is.

Furthermore, in his more recent fights, his shot selection and punch accuracy has been pretty decent. He isn’t a headhunter; he is more than happy to throw punches to the body when the opportunity presents itself. He scored a vicious body shot knockdown against Brandon Carmack with a left-hook – right-hook combination late last year.

When he chooses to use it, his jab can be an effective weapon, too. It is fast, powerful and has a nice snap to it – he also throws the body jab to decent effect, helping him set up his trademark backhand. He also uses feints effectively, but often forgoes them towards the latter half of his fights.

As well as this, he can also make fights dirty when he needs to – his physical strength helps him to do so. He will happily manipulate his opponents’ guard, push their head back with his forearm and will hit behind the head on occasion. Given his lack of a real amateur background – he was a kick-boxer in his youth – this is to be expected.

It’s likely that he will be looking to pull some of these tricks out of the bag against Joshua to try and frustrate the former two-time world champion.

Kristian Prenga Key Weaknesses

Sadly, we managed to pick out more weaknesses in Prenga’s approach than strengths, some of which Joshua is practically tailor-made to exploit. We already touched upon his lack of an amateur background – while this will aid him in certain ways, it also means that his technique can be sloppy and wild at times.

It’s probable that he will over-extend and leave openings at some point, which AJ will be more than willing to take advantage of. In general, his defence isn’t great, often leading with his left hand down in the orthodox stance – when up, his high guard is also far from impregnable. Joey Dawejko was able to breach it on several occasions during their encounter in 2024.

Furthermore, he marches forwards at his opponents, sometimes with his lead hand extended, leaving him wide open for a straight shot. He likes to frame his opponents to set up the right hand, but leaves himself exposed in doing so.

Even worse, he sometimes does this whilst backing off in a straight line – this is something that really should’ve been coached out of him by now, being 35 years of age.

His footwork also leaves a lot to be desired. His stance is generally quite narrow, which helps him gain leverage in his straight shots, but minimises the impact that his looping hooks might have. Being a larger fighter, even by Heavyweight standards, he is quite slow on his feet and is flat-footed to boot.

It is unfair to comment on his stamina or chin, as neither have really been tested. There is minimal available footage of his sole defeat, which came against Giovanni Auriemma in 2017 – as this was nine years ago, one can’t really take much away from it.

Prenga vs Joshua Verdict

All in all, Prenga has one or two qualities that could serve him well against AJ. His heavy hands, aggressive nature and powerful right cross are useful tools, but we feel that the Brit’s far superior hand speed and ring IQ will be way too much for the Albanian to handle.

There is certainly an outside chance of Prenga pulling off the upset – if he can hurt AJ and follow up with his solid finishing ability, he may break down the 36-year-old. Nevertheless, Prenga is a massive underdog for a reason – we don’t see any reason why anyone should realistically pick against Joshua in this one.

It remains to be seen how much AJ has left after he was involved in a vehicular crash back in 2025 – but he should have more than enough in the tank to see off Prenga.

Official prediction: Anthony Joshua by Round 3 KO