ANTHONY JOSHUA VS KRISTIAN PRENGA - FULL FIGHT AND MAIN CARD PREVIEW
Big-time boxing returns to Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2026 this Saturday night as former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua headlines a 13-fight card against the hard-hitting Albanian Kristian Prenga.
In the main undercard fights, Hamzah Sheeraz makes the first defence of his WBO World Super-Middleweight Title against Simon Zachenhuber, whilst fellow Englishman Josh Kelly also makes the first defence of his world title, this time against the undefeated Northern Irishman Caoimhin Agyarko. That's where we'll start.
Josh Kelly vs Caoimhin Agyarko - IBF World Super-Welterweight Title
In what is quite comfortably the best fight on the card, one of Sunderland's greatest sons, Josh Kelly, makes the first defence of his IBF World Super-Welterweight Title against the 18-0 Caoimhin Agyarko.
It was a cold night in the North East back in January when Kelly picked up, by some distance, the best win of his career so far.
Up against the reigning IBF world champion Bakhram Murtazaliev, a man that no one in the division wanted to fight despite the Russian holding a world title at the time, Kelly put in a punch-perfect performance to claim a majority-decision victory and become world champion at the first time of asking.
It was long overdue for the 2016 Olympian. His professional career so far has been plagued by setbacks, both inside but mainly outside of the ring, so to become a world champion against one of the most feared men in boxing in just his 20th fight was some achievement.
With the world quite literally at his feet, his face was all of a sudden printed on many 11-stoners' dartboards.
He was touted to make the first defence of his title against Jaron Ennis before Ennis took the unification clash with Xander Zayas, so, rightly, the #4-ranked Caoimhin Agyarko stepped in.
Originally scheduled to face #3-ranked Brandon Adams in April before the American was taken ill the day before the fight, it seemed that Agyarko would be left on the shelf. The IBF ordered him to fight Murtazaliev before Kelly got the opportunity he deserved, and now it's Agyarko who gets his crack at the title on a huge card in Saudi Arabia.
18-0 with seven KOs, similar to how Kelly's record looked before his win over Murtazaliev, he's been unfortunate with the lack of opportunities he has received. He's claimed points victories over Ishmael Davis and Troy Williamson in his last five fights, two opponents he has in common with Kelly, and looked impressive in doing so.
In terms of the fight, it's a guaranteed entertaining chess match.
Neither man is really a destructive one-punch knockout artist, but what both do well is mix up their shots and use their speed and accuracy to generate knockout power.
Expect Agyarko to be on the front foot and look to rough Kelly up. That's what Ishmael Davis did in the latter part of his fight with Kelly, and he very nearly got him out of there late on.
The Northern Irishman needs to be intelligently dirty if he is going to win this fight. Make Kelly fight his fight. Upset his rhythm from the first bell because if Kelly gets into that rhythm, there aren't many fighters on this planet who could find a way to get him out of it.
For Kelly, he needs to do what he does best: mix up his shots, show Agyarko different angles, switch between orthodox and southpaw, and use those incredibly quick hands and feet.
He has, in the past, taken his eye off the ball at times and, during stages of fights, become complacent. He can't afford to do that here. He didn't do it against Murtazaliev and, if we see a performance anywhere near as good as that, he should just about have enough to beat the best Caoimhin Agyarko.
Plenty of ifs, buts and maybes, but one thing we do know is this will be one heck of a fight.
Hamzah Sheeraz vs Simon Zachenhuber - WBO World Super-Middleweight Title
In the chief support to Joshua vs Prenga, the dynamite-fisted Hamzah Sheeraz makes the first defence of his WBO World Super-Middleweight Title against the German Simon Zachenhuber.
In what has been an outstanding professional career so far, winning titles in three different weight classes, Sheeraz made arguably the biggest statement in the 168lb division back in July last year when destroying and eventually stopping Edgar Berlanga inside five rounds in New York.
It was a breathtaking performance from the Englishman, who from the opening bell proved too big and too powerful for the American.
He followed that up with a second-round knockout of Alem Begic in May and, with a quick two-month turnaround, takes on the 29-1 Zachenhuber this weekend.
Zachenhuber is a fighter who went under the radar while moving to 28-0 over the space of seven years.
He then suffered a shock defeat to Somerset's adopted Pole, Pawel August, back in April on the Fury-Makhmudov undercard but, after returning to winning ways against Armin Ajrulai just four weeks ago, now finds himself earning the opportunity of a lifetime against the supremely talented Sheeraz.
As for the fight itself, despite Zachenhuber looking back to his best last time out, this really should be a fairly straightforward first world title defence for Sheeraz.
The German has nothing to lose. The majority of people are expecting Sheeraz to obliterate him and a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain is certainly a far more dangerous proposition than he would be in most other situations.
At 168lb, though, it's all about levels.
You have the likes of Sheeraz, Mbilli, Canelo, Martinez, Iglesias and Pacheco right at the top of the division, but then there's a sizeable gap to the fighters below them.
Sheeraz will likely be eyeing up the winner of Canelo vs Mbilli in early 2027, so don't expect him to be complacent here. Instead, expect another devastatingly powerful performance.
Anthony Joshua vs Kristian Prenga
Now to the main event, where former unified heavyweight champion of the world Anthony Joshua returns against the hard-hitting Albanian Kristian Prenga.
Just seven months on from a fatal car crash that killed two of his closest friends and severely injured him, Joshua will look to book a date with Tyson Fury later this year.
The fact that he is even contemplating boxing again after what he has been through over the past year, never mind actually returning to the ring, is testament to his mental strength and character. AJ deserves enormous credit.
His opponent on Saturday night is a bit of an unknown quantity.
20-1 with 20 knockouts from his 21 professional contests to date, Prenga looks, on paper, like a dangerous man to return against.
However, when you take a deeper look at the opposition he has faced, it tells a rather different story. The combined record of his 21 opponents to date is 238 wins, 178 losses and 18 draws from 434 fights. That's an average record of 11-8-1.
Damning.
Understandably, due to the level of opposition he has faced, there isn't much footage of Prenga available, but from what there is, it's easy to tell that he's a strong, powerful heavyweight and, more than anything, a spiteful one.
He uses feints well, which could cause AJ problems and, as we know full well in the heavyweight division, every fighter is capable of knocking out every other fighter. Joshua can't come into this fight expecting to walk through fire and still come out on top.
For AJ, he's stuck between a rock and a hard place in terms of how he approaches this fight.
He's boxed just six rounds in nearly two years and those six rounds came against Jake Paul, who I think we can all agree is levels below Joshua.
Does he try to get rounds in against Prenga so that he doesn't go into a Fury fight with any ring rust, or does he simply do what he does best and obliterate his opponent in the early rounds?
It's a tricky one.
He's had a good mix of sparring partners in Spain and Dubai helping him prepare for this fight, sparring partners who, by the looks of it, are also in camp with an eye on preparing for Fury.
The longer this fight goes, the more dangerous it becomes for AJ and the more jeopardy the Fury fight could be in.
It may not be the highest-quality fight of Joshua's career, but it is certainly an interesting one nevertheless.
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