ANOTHER dramatic and emotional night in Anthony Joshua’s boxing career ultimately ended as just about everyone expected it would – with the countdown under way to a super-fight against Tyson Fury later in the year.
Joshua, 36, improved his record to 30-4, but he was almost on the end of one of the biggest shocks in his sport’s history when he was knocked down twice by little-known Albanian Kristian Prenga inside the first round.
The Briton regrouped in the second round to land a flurry of hard right hands, sending Prenga crashing to the canvas and getting the win he came to Jeddah for.
BBC Sport has selected some of the best pictures from the fight, which came seven months on from the car crash in Nigeria in which Joshua was injured and two of his closest friends died.
Image caption,Anthony Joshua made the walk to the ring with a vast entourage supporting himImage caption,Joshua paid tribute to Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, the friends who died in the December crash, on his pre-fight outfitImage caption,Joshua was sent crashing to the canvas after an uppercut by Prenga in the opening 20 seconds of round oneImage caption,Joshua smiled when being given the referee’s count for the second time in round oneImage caption,After gathering himself, Joshua loaded up the right hand to send Prenga tumbling to the floorImage caption,Prenga was left trying to pick himself up between the ropes after becoming Joshua’s 27th beaten opponent by knockoutImage caption,After the drama of round one, Joshua told everyone to calm down after he knocked Prenga out in the second roundImage caption,Joshua and stablemate Oleksandr Usyk embraced after a dramatic victory for the BritonImage caption,Up on the ropes, Joshua raised his hands and soaked in the cheers from the crowd in JeddahImage caption,Joshua seemingly looked to the skies after getting the job doneImage caption,The look on Joshua’s face said everything you needed to know – that was a close one
