Nigerian-born former world boxing heavyweight champion, Anthony Olaseni Oluwafemi Joshua is under critical scrutiny over what many critics are referring to his ‘mysterious victory’ over Kristian Prenga of Albania last weekend in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Sports247 reports that Joshua surprisingly survived two slumps in the first round and romped back at the restart to pummel his opponent into submission with a knockout blow that caught the watching world by surprise.
However, a major talking point now is that ‘AJ’ pulled off his second-round thumping of the 6ft 5in Albanian barely 24 hours after British rival, Tyson Fury got an identical resurgent victory during a non-televised fight in Thailand.
The British sporting press in particular has been cynical in noting both boxers’ efforts to outdo each other by pulling off thumping victories to highlight how fit they are heading into their much-expected ‘Battle of The Brits,’ which is yet to have a fixed date and venue later this year.
However, UK’s Sun Sport added a very emotional angle to the narrative with a report that suggested Joshua is yet to recover from the fatal accident he survived on December 29th near Sagamu in Ogun State, but lost two of his closest friends, whose deaths might still be weighing him down.
The report noted, “AJ, 36, put in a Jekyll and Hyde performance against the Albanian heavyweight in the Jeddah Superdome, as he was downed twice in the first round before coming back to score a TKO victory in Round Two.
“AJ’s nail-biting win over unknown rank-outsider, Kristian Prenga on Saturday night – on the surface to casual fans – looked a thrilling Rocky-like affair. But a chat with close friends in Jeddah paints a very different story of a fine young man fighting for all the wrong reasons.
“One man close to the camp said: ‘People will question if he should be boxing and – on that performance – maybe he shouldn’t. But, right now, the way things are, the alternative is probably only a total breakdown.’
“SunSport understands that he was almost unrecognisable in the changing room moments before the comeback bout, ‘like a zombie,’ according to one source. As pure as the tribute to Latz and Sina was, written into the canvas in Joshua’s red corner, it now looks one burden too many to carry.”
Joshua also appeared to get a swipe from Fury, who had also controversially beaten former heavyweight title challenger, Mariusz Wach in Thailand on Friday, as ‘The Gypsy King’ posted a comment that stated curtly: “Wow wtf.”
