{"id":827805,"date":"2026-07-26T20:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T20:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827805\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T20:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T20:13:08","slug":"usyk-predicts-anthony-joshua-vs-tyson-fury-after-watching-aj-be-floored-twice-by-kristian-prenga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827805\/","title":{"rendered":"Usyk predicts Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury after watching AJ be floored twice by Kristian Prenga"},"content":{"rendered":"

After seeing Anthony Joshua suffer two knockdowns against Kristian Prenga<\/a>, Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> has delivered a knockout prediction for the Brit\u2019s expected clash with Tyson Fury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their long-awaited heavyweight showdown is set to finally materialise later this year, with both former two-time world champions having completed their respective warm-up fights.<\/p>\n

First to the stage was Fury, who encountered minimal difficulty as he banked seven rounds against the 46-year-old Mariusz Wach<\/a> in Pattaya, Thailand, on Friday.<\/p>\n

But while Joshua, too, was seemingly facing a low-risk opponent on Saturday evening, the 36-year-old came remarkably close to suffering a first-round stoppage defeat<\/a> in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The initial knockdown arrived within 20 seconds of their contest, with \u2018AJ\u2019 hitting the canvas after getting caught with an unassuming right uppercut from Prenga.<\/p>\n

He was then floored once more in the opening round, only to summon enough fighting spirit to engineer a second-round stoppage victory.<\/p>\n

It was hardly the most convincing performance but, even so, Usyk has backed the 36-year-old to defeat Fury inside the distance.<\/p>\n

Speaking with talkSPORT<\/a>, the Ukrainian maintained his belief that Joshua, who he now considers a friend and training partner, has the tools to trump his long-time domestic rival.<\/p>\n

\u201cAJ win. [He will] knock him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usyk dethroned Joshua with a unanimous decision victory in 2021, before winning their immediate rematch via a split verdict the following year.<\/p>\n

The generational great then went on to score two points wins over Fury in 2024, with many viewing their contests as being more competitive than those against \u2018AJ\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After seeing Anthony Joshua suffer two knockdowns against Kristian Prenga, Oleksandr Usyk has delivered a knockout prediction for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-827805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}