Anthony Joshua survives early scare to KO Kristian Prenga after being dropped TWICE in first round

Anthony Joshua almost saw his long-awaited fight with Tyson Fury go up in smoke as he survived an early scare against Kristian Prenga.

The little-known Albanian had been lined up as a low-risk warm-up fight ahead of a bout with bitter rival Fury.

But he almost flipped the script by dropping Joshua twice in the opening stanza.

Prenga took his foot off the gas in the second round and paid dearly as Joshua came through crisis to flatten his adversary with a flurry of shots.

Speaking post-fight, the victorious Joshua said: “I can’t be stopped. I’m not going to be stopped, I’m not going to be denied.”

His attention then turned to Fury, who chose to fly home to the Isle of Man after his routine tune-up win over Mariusz Wach last night in Pattaya, Thailand.

“On to more important matters, have we got Tyson Fury in the room?” he added. “Is he here or not?”

Upon realising that Fury was nowhere to be seen, Joshua sent a message to his rival, mimicking a famous Mike Tyson speech.

“I’m going to rip his heart out,” Joshua bellowed.

“I’m the meanest and most vicious world champion there’s ever been; nobody can stop me. He’s no Alexander; I’m Alexander.

“All jokes aside, there’s two sides to this thing. One is the fighter. But also, there’s respect.

“I respect everything he’s done and everything that he’s achieved, but as a fighting person and someone who called for this fight for a long time, we’re here now. I hope the fans will be in for a lovely treat.”

Story of the fight

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