British-Nigerian boxer Anthony Joshua has fired back at Kristian Prenga\u2019s pre-fight predictions, telling the Albanian heavyweight that he is simply digging his own grave ahead of their July 25 bout in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.\n<\/p>\n
Joshua, who has not fought since stopping American Jake Paul in six rounds in Miami last December \u2014 a victory that extended his professional record to 29-4 \u2014 was responding to Prenga\u2019s bold declarations at their press conference, where the Albanian promised to deliver something the former champion had never felt in the ring.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think these guys just dig their grave,\u201d Joshua told DAZN.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir grave\u2019s already been dug, but they just keep digging deeper and deeper and deeper, and I\u2019m just going to do what I need to do. I\u2019ve got full belief. I just know exactly what I need to do. I\u2019m not worrying. I respect him. I respect every opponent, but when I look at myself, I know what I got to do, and I\u2019m going to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old two-time unified world heavyweight champion has spoken openly about being mentally and physically stronger than at any previous point in his career, drawing renewed purpose from a difficult period following the deaths of two close friends in a car accident in Sagamu, Nigeria, last December. <\/p>\n
Joshua made clear that Prenga is one step on a ladder that leads ultimately to Tyson Fury, with the pair\u2019s anticipated all-British showdown expected in November, but insisted he is not treating the Albanian lightly.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me the opportunity to fight Prenga, give me the opportunity to fight Fury, give me the opportunity to fight for the championship. It ain\u2019t about looking past anyone, it\u2019s just knowing your purpose and knowing your steps forward and moving up the ladder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a clear goal, I know what this year is about, I know how tough this year is going to be. I\u2019ve been training hard \u2014 that\u2019s my life,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
Prenga, 35, who is 20-1 with all 20 of his victories coming by knockout, last fought in February, stopping American Joe Jones in the first round in Atlantic City. He stands six feet five inches tall and has insisted that Joshua has never felt anything like his punching power.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019m going to shock the world,\u201d Prenga said at the press conference, a sentiment backed by his manager, Keith Sullivan, who claimed Matchroom Boxing had made a \u201cmiscalculation\u201d with their prized asset.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British-Nigerian boxer Anthony Joshua has fired back at Kristian Prenga\u2019s pre-fight predictions, telling the Albanian heavyweight that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[342787,8075,64,63,802,7702,353060,240211,345005,353061,85],"class_list":["post-729176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-aj-boxing","tag-anthony-joshua","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-heavyweight-boxing","tag-jeddah-fight","tag-kristian-prenga","tag-nigerian-sports","tag-punch-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}