![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/in-this-photo-provided-by-the-federal-road-safety-corps-peop-GYVVVGG5YJF4XKX5VWH6CPJLOQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFormer two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will fight for the first time since his involvement in a deadly car crash in December when he takes on Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia in July.<\/p>\n
Then, it looks like he’s lined up for a long-anticipated bout with British rival Tyson Fury.<\/p>\n
\u201cSigned, sealed, delivered! AJ v Fury is on!\u201d Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter at Matchroom, wrote on Instagram on Monday.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate comment from Fury’s camp.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In this photo provided by the Federal Road Safety Corps, people gather at the accident scene of British boxer Anthony Joshua in Lagos, Nigeria (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old Joshua will fight Prenga, an Albanian with 20 victories and one loss, on July 25 in Riyadh in the headline bout in \u201cThe Comeback\u201d, which is part of the Esports World Cup Festival.<\/p>\n
Joshua\u2019s last fight was a knockout victory over YouTuber Jake Paul on December 19. Ten days later, he was injured in a car crash in Nigeria that killed two of his friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no secret I\u2019ve taken some time to consolidate and rebuild to be ready for stepping back into the ring,\u201d Joshua said in a Matchroom statement, \u201cand today is the next step on that journey”.<\/p>\n
![\""I](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/i-didnt-even-realise-how-special-they-are-wrote-joshua-in-an-RKNIGBX2URBK7IWFFVIXGXVMRU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
“I didn\u2019t even realise how special they are,” wrote Joshua in an online post. (Source: Anthony Joshua via Instagram)<\/p>\n
In the statement, Joshua said the fight with Prenga is the first in a \u201cmulti-fight deal”.<\/p>\n
Joshua was present when Fury, also a former two-time heavyweight champion, ended a 15-month retirement from the ring when beating Russian-born Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they have big plans ahead after this fight,\u201d Prenga said. \u201cI know they are overlooking me. I\u2019m happy about that. I will derail their plans and shock the world this July in Saudi Arabia.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will fight for the first time since his involvement in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2023,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-402168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-boxing","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}