Top boxing insider and executive Lou DiBella claims Anthony Joshua’s warmup for that Tyson Fury showdown later in 2026 is “absurd, ridiculous, embarrassing”.
On Monday we got the news from Turki Alalshikh that Fury (35-2-1) and AJ (29-4) have now signed to meet in Q4 of this year, after Joshua takes a tune-up fight against little-known Albanian Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on July 25.
There are reasons AJ is not taking on a top-15 heavyweight here, 100million of them to be exact. That is the reported purse he will bag for one night’s work against ‘The Gypsy King’. This is no time to fumble the bag, and team Joshua have clearly got the message.
DiBella though – now promoter and former long-time leading HBO exec – believes there are levels to fights and the fans should understand just how one-sided he believes this one is.
Who is Kristian Prenga?
The 35-year-old Prenga will not be somebody that most boxing fans would ever have heard of, his 20-1 record (all 20 wins by knockout) looks decent on the face of it, but dig a little deeper and there is nothing of substance.
DiBella took to social media on Monday to respond when a fan asked the valid question ‘Who is Prenga?’ and his response was absolutely brutal. He believes the Albanian would be better suited to fight Jake Paul.
“Local show albanian guy, mid thirties, kickboxer, has been around for years. Absurd, ridiculous, embarrassing mismatch. There is a reason you haven’t heard of him … many in fact,” DiBella wrote on X.
DiBella did not stop there either, engaging with boxing broadcaster Ariel Helwani when he announced the fight and defended it by saying: “We knew this was coming. They’ve told us it was going to be this kinda matchup 100 times already.”
Lou fired back: “What’s “this kinda matchup”, Ariel? Prenga wouldn’t be considered quality enough to SPAR with AJ for a real fight. This isn’t just an appearance fight, it’s an abject mismatch that serves less than no purpose and doesn’t deserve a ticket purchase unless you prefer ritual slaughter to boxing.”
Why this fight, why now?
As we said already, there is only one reason this fight is happening now, only one reason Prenga could ever dream of getting in a professional boxing ring with Anthony Joshua. Risk.
Can you imagine Eddie Hearn putting AJ in with Deontay Wilder for example, putting that £100million payday in grave danger against an opponent with an enormous knockout punch?
Remember AJ’s last proper heavyweight outing was a devastating defeat at the hands of Daniel Dubois at Wembley back in September 2024. He was down in four of the five rounds and utterly destroyed. Matchroom and Joshua cannot afford a repeat of that.
Fury vs Joshua is a retirement plan – and a pretty nice one – for both fighters, but the sport’s history is littered with fights which were scuppered at the last minute by an unfortunate turn of events. It is for that reason this one is happening five years too late.
Yes it appears to be a mismatch of epic proportions, but that is exactly what we should have expected. Whether fans should subscribe/pay/whatever to watch it, another matter entirely.
Who has Prenga fought so far?
Prenga’s record, for those with interest, is here, all 21 professional fights:
| Date | Opponent (record) | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Feb 2026 | Joe Jones (20–1) | Showboat Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | Win – TKO 1 (1:57) |
| 6 Dec 2025 | Brandon Carmack (19–1) | Ballys Park Place Hotel Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | Win – KO 1 (1:35) |
| 4 Apr 2025 | Willie Jake Jr (18–1) | Radisson Hotel Southfield, Detroit, Michigan, US | Win – TKO 1 (2:26) |
| 18 Jan 2025 | Juan Torres (17–1) | 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | Win – TKO 2 (1:16) |
| 12 Oct 2024 | Joey Dawejko (16–1) | Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey, US | Win – TKO 5 (0:41) |
| 29 Dec 2023 | Christoper Arnold (15–1) | Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey, US | Win – TKO 1 (2:27) |
| 22 Jul 2023 | Santander Silgado Gelez (14–1) | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | Win – KO 1 (1:22) |
| 25 Mar 2023 | Samuel Crossed (13–1) | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | Win – KO 3 (0:31) |
| 12 Nov 2022 | Alvin Davie (12–1) | Showboat Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | Win – TKO 2 (1:32) |
| 30 Apr 2022 | Eric Abraham (11–1) | 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | Win – TKO 2 (1:49) |
| 11 Dec 2021 | Tommy Washington Jr (10–1) | 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | Win – TKO 1 (2:47) |
| 13 Nov 2021 | Rosario Silgado (9–1) | 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | Win – TKO 1 (1:07) |
| 7 Aug 2021 | William Morris (8–1) | Bally’s Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | Win – KO 1 (1:36) |
| 12 Jun 2021 | Luigi Deiana (7–1) | 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | Win – KO 1 (1:15) |
| 8 Mar 2019 | Keith Barr (6–1) | 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | Win – KO 1 (1:45) |
| 30 Jun 2017 | Jaime Barajas (5–1) | Scotiabank Convention Centre, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada | Win – KO 1 (1:08) |
| 18 Feb 2017 | Giovanni Auriemma (4–1) | Rabo Theater De Meenthe, Steenwijk, Netherlands | Loss – PTS 8 |
| 26 Nov 2016 | Dejan Krneta (4–0) | Loewensaal, Nuremberg, Germany | Win – TKO 3 (0:37) |
| 22 Oct 2016 | Giovanni Auriemma (3–0) | Sporthalle, Berlin, Germany | Win – TKO 4 (2:34) |
| 8 Oct 2016 | Haris Radmilovic (2–0) | Kampfsportcenter, Munich, Germany | Win – KO 2 (1:11) |
| 7 May 2016 | Pavel Siska (1–0) | Kampfsportcenter, Munich, Germany | Win – TKO 2 (1:29) |
