{"id":709412,"date":"2026-07-24T20:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/709412\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:07:08","slug":"first-heavyweight-to-ko-anthony-joshua-to-make-zuffa-boxing-debut-in-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/709412\/","title":{"rendered":"First heavyweight to KO Anthony Joshua to make Zuffa Boxing debut in return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mihai Nistor, a famous conqueror of Anthony Joshua in the amateur ranks, will make his first appearance for Zuffa Boxing.<\/p>\n

Nistor will return this weekend on the latest bill by Dana White’s start-up promotion at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York this weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Mihai<\/a><\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Nistor will make his Zuffa Boxing debut, a return as a pro for the first time since April 2024Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

The Romanian heavyweight is notorious within the world of boxing, after claiming a famous scalp during his stint in the unpaid ranks.<\/p>\n

He famously handed Joshua the only stoppage defeat of his amateur career<\/a> in 2011 when the pair met, one year before AJ secured an Olympic gold medal.<\/p>\n

Now the 35-year-old will make his 9th professional bow and turn over a new leaf after signing for White’s promotion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He will take on unbeaten American KO artist Kashaun Davis, who will be searching for his 12th consecutive stoppage win.<\/p>\n

Read More In Boxing<\/p>\n

The bout will land on the preliminary card of the event which will be topped by Edgar Berlanga’s return against Stephen Butler.<\/p>\n

Nistor will hope to halt his rival’s ruthless start to life as a pro, and continue his own unbeaten stretch.<\/p>\n

It is almost certain he will be the more experienced, having won 138 amateur fights, and even duelled with modern era great Oleksandr Usyk and Filip Hrgovic.<\/p>\n

What happened when Nistor KO’d Joshua?<\/p>\n

Irrespective of what he does next as a pro, Nistor will always hold the tag of being one of an elite group to send Joshua to the canvas.<\/p>\n

In 2011 the pair met in the European Championships in Ankara, Turkey, with Nistor deemed the underdog.<\/p>\n

But his growing experience on the amateur circuit proved too much for the young British star who was rising through the ranks.<\/p>\n

Joshua was caught with a booming left hook in the third round of their contest, which turned his legs to jelly underneath him.<\/p>\n

He was held up by the ropes but after the former Olympian struggled through a standing count, the referee waved off the contest.<\/p>\n

It was a big statement, and he joins just Andy Ruiz Jr and Daniel Dubois who have stopped Joshua since on the paid circuit.<\/p>\n

Nistor has spoken openly about his determination to put his profile into lights as a pro, and earn a rematch with Joshua.<\/p>\n

He said previously: \u201cI\u2019d love to box again with my former rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could box against Joshua and Usyk again, that would be my goal.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

Watch Boxing on DAZN<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

*If you click a link in this boxout, we will earn affiliate revenue<\/p>\n

Sign up to DAZN<\/a> to access the definitive subscription for boxing fans.<\/p>\n

Upgrade to DAZN Ultimate<\/a> from just \u00a324.99\/month, guaranteeing access to 185+ fights annually, a minimum of 12 pay-per-views at no extra cost, as well as every Lega Serie A match and other elite football access.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, DAZN Standard<\/a> is just \u00a315.99\/month, with the caveat you will have to pay for pay-per-view events.<\/p>\n

Click here to sign up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was held back for about two years because of the\u00a0pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am confident and convinced that I will make it to the level of Joshua and Usyk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mihai Nistor, a famous conqueror of Anthony Joshua in the amateur ranks, will make his first appearance for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6565,235060,2560,6102,21762,235059,235061,101,15969,56,54,55,44291],"class_list":["post-709412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-anthony-joshua","tag-berlanga-vs-butler","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-dana-white","tag-mihai-nistor","tag-mihai-nistor-return","tag-sports","tag-turki-alalshikh","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-zuffa-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}