Fury reacts after Joshua's close call
Tyson Fury only had two words after seeing Kristian Prenga give Anthony Joshua one of the biggest scares of his career - "Wow, wtf?" Fury commented those words on social media after Ring Magazine chief and Zuffa boxing co-founder Turki Alalshikh uploaded a highlights package of Joshua's win over Prenga.
The Albanian scored two huge knockdowns over AJ in the first round, the biggest of which coming in the opening exchanges. Prenga stepped inside Joshua and caught him with a perfect uppercut which sent the two-time unified heavyweight champion tumbling to the canvas, before catching him with another huge shot later in the round.
However, Joshua got his bearings and knocked the 35-year-old out in round two with a vicious combination.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page Oleksandr Usyk, whose team has been training Joshua since December, breathed a huge sigh of relief after Joshua's victory was confirmed. Meanwhile, Fury only let his thoughts be known on Instagram by commenting "Wow, wtf?" on the video on Alalshikh's post.
At present, that's the Gypsy King's only comment on Joshua's brush with disaster against Prenga. The Olympic gold medallist needed to be victorious to ensure the blockbuster clash with Fury would take place.
Fight on for Fury and Joshua
The night before, Fury held up his end of the bargain by easily stopping Mariusz Wach in their non-televised clash in Pattaya, Thailand. The 46-year-old Pole gave up on his stool at the end of the seventh round after his team decided he had taken enough punishment from Fury.
The boxing world held its breath in anticipation for Fury to turn up ringside in Jeddah to confront Joshua. The latter also instantly looked for Fury in the arena straight after beating him, only for him not to be there.
Channelling his inner Mike Tyson, Joshua took the microphone and said:
"Wait a minute - have we got Tyson Fury in the room? Wait, wait, wait, to more important matters - is he here or not? Fair do’s.
"Im'ma rip his heart out. I'm the meanest and vicious champion's ever been. Listen, all jokes aside, you see, there’s two sides of this thing. One is fire. You have to have that vim, that grrr. But also respect.
"I respect everything he has done. And everything that he has achieved. As someone who who has been calling for the fight for a long time, we're here now. Shout out to his Excellency. Shout to Eddie Hearn for making these opportunities possible, and I hope the fans will be in for a lovely treat.”
Joshua's promoter Hearn has insisted all of the contracts have been signed, but a date or location is yet to be confirmed. UK boxing fans have been hoping for the clash to be in London, but Madison Square Garden in New York has also emerged as a potential venue.
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