Two world championship bouts could feature on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s return fight against Kristian Prega on July 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with Hamzah Sheeraz and Josh Kelly both under consideration.
Eddie Hearn revealed the plans to BoxingScene, noting the Turki Alalshikh-funded card will carry a substantial undercard.
“I think there could be two world championship fights on the undercard. Hamzah Sheeraz may be one of those as well. Obviously we’ll talk to Frank Warren and Spencer Brown and everybody, and Josh Kelly could feature on there as well. That’ll be announced this coming week.”
Sheeraz won the WBO super middleweight title last month. Kelly claimed the IBF junior middleweight belt in January and is expected to defend against Caoimhin Agyarko.
Joshua returns for the first time since December, when he was involved in a car accident that claimed the lives of two close friends — an incident that occurred days after his six-round stoppage of Jake Paul.
Tyson Fury has used Daniel Dubois’ stunning comeback win over Fabio Wardley on Saturday night to make a pointed observation about Anthony Joshua, the man he is expected to fight later this year.
Posting on social media after watching Dubois stop Wardley in the 11th round to claim the WBO heavyweight title, Fury noted a pattern in Dubois’s recent record that he believes says something significant about Joshua.
“I’ve just sat here thinking after Dubois’ unbelievable fight. Dubois fought ‘Big Baby’ Miller, stopped him but never put him down. Then he fought Hrgovic, stopped him but never put him down. He fought Wardley, an unbelievable fight, stopped him but never put him down. He hit Usyk with some bombs, never put him over. Yet he fights Anthony Joshua and pummels him and puts him to the floor four times. I’m not saying Anthony Joshua’s chinless but there are the facts. Take it as you wish and as you will. Everybody else never went over, not a singular person, ‘Big Baby’ Miller, Hrgovic, Usyk or Wardley but Joshua goes down four times. Chinny!”
Fury also teased news about his next fight, calling it unbelievable and exciting, with details to be revealed soon. The 37-year-old returned to action in April with a win over Arslanbek Makhmudov in London, his first fight since suffering his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk in 2024.
Dubois’s victory on Saturday improved his record to 23-3 with 22 knockouts and gave him the WBO heavyweight title that Fury himself once held. The win also set up a potential future collision with WBO mandatory challenger Moses Itauma, though Frank Warren has indicated both Dubois and Wardley will need at least six months out after the brutality of their war in Manchester.
Fury and Joshua are expected to meet in Britain in November, with the fight set to be broadcast on Netflix. Joshua faces Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on July 25 as a tune-up before the mega fight.
Anthony Joshua has his comeback opponent, and there is now a title at stake. The Olympic gold medallist and former two-time unified heavyweight champion will return to the ring on July 25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, against unbeaten Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga, with the official press release billing the bout for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship.
The fight, dubbed “The Comeback,” was confirmed Monday by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. It will headline a card at the Esports World Cup at Boulevard City and stream live worldwide on DAZN. The bout opens a new multi-fight Saudi deal for Joshua, and crucially, it is the warm-up that activates a long-rumored showdown with Tyson Fury reportedly targeted for late 2026.
The WBC Title Billing
The official Matchroom Boxing press release describes the fight as being for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship. That billing carries some complications. Oleksandr Usyk currently holds the full WBC heavyweight title and is scheduled to make a voluntary defense against Rico Verhoeven on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza, while Agit Kabayel holds the WBC interim title and has been waiting on a mandatory shot. Whether Joshua vs Prenga is sanctioned for a vacant version of the belt, a secondary WBC title, or pending further clarification from the sanctioning body, the press release does not specify. Further details from the WBC are expected.
Joshua’s First Fight Since Tragedy
This will be Joshua’s first appearance in the ring since his sixth-round stoppage of Jake Paul on December 19, 2025, in Miami. Ten days after that fight, Joshua was involved in a car crash in Lagos, Nigeria, that killed his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele. He sustained only minor injuries, but at one point was reportedly believed to be retiring from the sport.
Joshua, 36, broke his silence weeks later in an emotional video confirming his intent to fight on. The July 25 booking is the first concrete step on that road back. He enters with a professional record of 28-4 with 25 knockouts, his most recent win coming via knockout against Jake Paul.
“It’s no secret I’ve taken some time to consolidate and rebuild to be ready for stepping back into the ring, and today is the next step on that journey,” Joshua said. “I’m delighted to have agreed a multi-fight deal starting with July 25th in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I’m looking forward to competing and picking up where I left off. As I said. The landlord will collect his rent. That is certain.”
Joshua’s Heavyweight Résumé
Matchroom’s release leaned hard on Joshua’s career résumé to frame the comeback. Over the past eight years, Joshua has been central to some of boxing’s biggest heavyweight events, with wins over Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, Kubrat Pulev, and Andy Ruiz Jr., and high-profile defeats against Oleksandr Usyk, Daniel Dubois, and a stoppage of Francis Ngannou. He has headlined stadium events at Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Who Is Kristian Prenga?
Prenga (20-1, 20 KOs) is a 35-year-old Albanian heavyweight based in New Jersey who carries a perfect knockout ratio. He turned professional in 2016, and his only loss came on points back in 2017. The July 25 bout will be the highest-profile fight of his career and his first major international main event. He has never been beyond eight rounds in a scheduled bout, and he has not faced anyone near world-level opposition.
“Anthony Joshua is a great fighter, but he made a terrible miscalculation in picking me as his opponent,” Prenga said. “This is the kind of fight that changes everything in my life and his. I know they have big plans ahead after this fight. I know they are overlooking me. I’m happy about that. I will derail their plans and shock the world this July in Saudi Arabia.”
The Fury Fight Is the Real Prize
The subtext to Monday’s announcement is unmistakable. Promoter Eddie Hearn has openly said Joshua wanted a tune-up before facing Fury, and reporting from The Ring confirms that if Joshua comes through Prenga unscathed, he will finally meet Fury at the end of 2026 in what would be the most anticipated fight in British boxing history. That super-fight is expected to land on Netflix.
Joshua and Fury have been on a collision course for more than a decade without sharing a ring. Tensions spiked earlier this month when Fury called Joshua out from the ring after beating Arslanbek Makhmudov, leading to Hearn confirming a two-fight structure built around a July warm-up and a Fury showdown later in the year.
For now, the rent will be collected on July 25. The bigger payday is waiting on the other side.
Oleksandr Usyk has delivered a pointed message to Tyson Fury while making his prediction for the Anthony Joshua fight crystal clear.
Speaking with Ring Magazine, Usyk was asked whether Fury could beat Joshua in a potential matchup between the two heavyweight names. His answer was brief and direct.
“AJ will win. AJ will beat you.”
The comment carries added weight given that Usyk defeated Joshua twice in their heavyweight title fights in 2022, making him one of the most credible voices on Joshua’s performance at the elite level. The two are now sharing a training camp ahead of Usyk’s May 23 crossover fight against Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza, with Joshua joining Usyk’s camp and the pair training on staggered daily schedules.
Usyk also reacted to Fury’s comeback win over Arslanbek Makhmudov last Saturday, saying he watched the first six rounds before leaving for church. He confirmed he heard Fury’s post-fight call for a trilogy but made clear that the conversation has to wait until after his own fight.
“I heard Tyson say, ‘Hey, maybe trilogy for us, I’m ready.’ But after my fight with Rico, because now my focus is only May 23rd.”
Rather than dismissing Fury’s return to the ring, Usyk framed it as a positive development for the sport, while also noting that the current generation of heavyweight names is approaching the end of its window.
“Tyson is a crazy man, but come back, four or five times. Tyson back. It’s good now. It’s needed. Needed player. Because all of us heavyweights, I think we have one, two years and the era changes. Young guys come. We go rest, play soccer, golf, drink beer.”
Usyk has previously stated he has approximately three fights remaining in his career: the Verhoeven bout, the winner of Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois, and a potential trilogy with Fury. A Joshua and Fury fight could reshuffle that timeline, but Usyk’s prediction on who wins that matchup was unambiguous.
Anthony Joshua created a moment of tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday when he declined to enter the ring, and Eddie Hearn has now explained exactly why. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the Matchroom chairman revealed that Joshua deliberately decided not to make a public announcement about a fight he does not yet consider finalized.
“I asked AJ if he wanted to get in the ring. He said to me, ‘I don’t want to get in the ring and announce a fight that’s not done. I feel like that’s not being fair and honest with the British public. What if it doesn’t happen? How many times have we done this before?’” Hearn said.
The standoff played out inside the stadium, with Turki Alalshikh’s team calling Joshua out from the ring while he remained seated in the crowd. Hearn told the organizers Joshua would not be getting in the ring, and was informed that Tyson Fury might say something over the rope instead.
On the contractual side, Hearn confirmed that a contract arrived at the end of last week and is currently being reviewed by both Joshua’s personal legal team and Matchroom’s lawyers. He expects a red-lined version to be returned to the Saudi side within 24 to 48 hours. Despite that progress, Hearn was careful to draw a clear line between intention and completion. “There’s a difference between ‘we’re all moving forward to finalize the fight’ and a fight being done and signed,” he said. “It is absolutely our intention to try and close this deal, but it’s not done and it’s not signed. We have been here on a number of occasions before where the fight has fallen through.” He described the remaining issues as nothing major but stressed that Joshua will not rush the process for the sake of optics.
Hearn framed Joshua’s caution as appropriate given the scale of what is being negotiated. “We’re fully committed to making this fight and I fully expect this fight to happen, but it will happen at our speed, in the right way,” he said. “In due time, AJ will be there to collect his rent.” He called the proposed Joshua vs. Fury matchup the biggest fight in the history of British boxing and one of the biggest fights of all time, arguing it deserves to be handled accordingly rather than rushed into a premature announcement.
The proposed deal structure calls for a July warmup fight for Joshua followed by the Fury bout in November. Joshua has not fought since a car crash earlier this year disrupted his original timeline, and Hearn said the warmup is essential given what Joshua has been through physically in the lead-up to what would be the defining fight of his career.
Oleksandr Usyk has named his price for a third fight with Tyson Fury, and it isn’t cheap. The unified heavyweight champion told The Stomping Ground in London that “Greedy Belly” will need to back up his talk with a nine-zero payday.
“Listen. Greedy belly. Give me billion dollars. You take trilogy,” Usyk said.
The number is a direct shot at Fury’s own history of floating massive purse demands for big fights. Usyk delivered it with a smile, but the message landed: if Fury wants a third crack, he can fund it himself.
Usyk Unbothered by the “Blown-Up Cruiserweight” Talk
Fury’s camp has leaned on the “blown-up cruiserweight” line throughout both fight weeks. Usyk, now 24-0 with 15 knockouts and holding The Ring, WBC, WBA, and IBF titles, doesn’t appear to be losing sleep over it.
“Maybe I don’t know. Listen, it’s now it’s my opponent, but I not feel bad. Okay. Listen, I happy,” Usyk said.
The composure tracks with how he’s handled every round of Fury-camp shots, before, during, and after their two fights in Riyadh.
Backing Anthony Joshua to Beat “Greedy Belly”
The warmth Usyk showed toward Anthony Joshua, a man he’s also beaten twice, was the other headline. Joshua has been training alongside Usyk in camp, and the Ukrainian sees a future undisputed champion in him.
“AJ, it’s a future undisputed champion. My Bratton, you know Bratton? Bro, your brother, your bro.”
Asked directly who wins if Joshua and Fury finally share a ring, Usyk didn’t hedge.
“I don’t know who wins the fight. AJ. Really? Yes, of course. AJ win.”
The endorsement carries weight. Eddie Hearn has already confirmed a two-fight deal on the table for Joshua that includes a July warmup and Fury in November.
On Fury vs. Makhmudov
Fury returned from a 16-month layoff on April 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, taking a wide unanimous decision over Arslanbek Makhmudov on scores of 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109. Usyk watched the same fight most fans did, one where the finish never came.
“Tyson win. It’s a good. Listen, it’s win. It’s not lost. But maybe a lot of people want to do Tyson knock him out. I’m too.”
Fury used his post-fight mic time to call out Joshua for a Battle of Britain later this year. Joshua refused to step in the ring for the face-off and stared him down instead.
Style Points
The interview opened with Usyk getting a compliment on his outfit. The reply was pure Usyk.
Eddie Hearn has laid out the specifics of the Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury deal for the first time, confirming a two-fight structure that deliberately excludes Deontay Wilder as Joshua’s warmup opponent.
Speaking with talkSPORT Boxing at the Glory in Giza press event in Egypt, Hearn said the offer on the table calls for Joshua to fight in July before facing Fury later in the year.
“The deal that we’ve been offered, which is to fight in July and then fight Tyson Fury in November, is not with Deontay Wilder in mind,” Hearn said. “I think the powers that be don’t really want us to be in that type of fight. We’re up for it. AJ’s also said to me, ‘I will fight Wilder and I will fight Fury back to back.’ But July in the UK looks likely.”
Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season Driving the Offer
Hearn identified the source of the deal as Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season, the Saudi-backed entity that has bankrolled several of boxing’s biggest events over the past two years.
“This is an offer that’s been made by Turki and Riyadh Season, wherever that fight could be, in July, and then fight Tyson Fury,” Hearn said. “That’s the deal that’s been proposed to us at the moment, and that looks like the route that we will take.”
Hearn Would Pick Wilder, But It’s Not His Call
The Matchroom promoter was candid about the tension between what he’d do as a promoter and what the deal structure allows. He openly acknowledged that Wilder would be his first choice for a July warmup if he were running the show.
“If we were promoting the event, that’s exactly what I’d be doing, Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury,” Hearn said. “But this is a deal put to us with Fury against AJ as the mountaintop of that deal. There’ll be a lot of people that won’t want to go into a fight that they feel is risky and put that fight at jeopardy.”
He added: “We have no problem fighting Wilder. I don’t think it will be Wilder under the basis of this deal, but we’ll have to see.”
Netflix Jumped the Gun
Hearn also directly contradicted Netflix’s social media announcement that the Joshua vs. Fury fight is confirmed.
“Netflix put a tweet out saying it’s on. It’s not on,” Hearn said. “AJ didn’t want to put himself in a position and almost tell the British public that after all these years we’ve got it, it’s on, because it’s not. Now, will it be on? I truly believe so. And my instruction from Anthony Joshua is: make the fight.”
Joshua attended the Fury vs. Makhmudov fight on Saturday but refused to enter the ring for a premature announcement. Hearn said Joshua asked him directly whether the deal was done and declined to go out when told it wasn’t.
The Power Has Shifted
Hearn framed the current negotiation dynamic as a complete reversal from years past, when Fury held the belts and demanded 60-40 splits.
“It was the first time Fury’s kind of come out and gone, ‘I want you. You’re the only fight I want next,’” Hearn said. “And it was good to hear, and AJ’s the landlord.”
Hearn also referenced Joshua’s personal struggles without going into specifics, asking fans for patience as the timeline plays out.
“Sometimes people are quick to forget that,” Hearn said. “The work that he’s put in to even get himself to this position has been so admirable. It’s been incredible. I think it’s great just having him around after what’s happened. He’s ready and he’s motivated, but we’ve got to do it right.”
Claressa Shields recently dismissed the idea of a fight between Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. She said the matchup no longer appeals to her despite renewed speculation following Wilder’s recent win.
The former two-division undisputed champion reacted to Wilder’s split decision victory over Derek Chisora on April 4 at the O2 Arena in London. Wilder defeated Chisora in a messy but entertaining main event on an MF Pro fight card in association with Queensberry Promotions,
Claressa Shields Reacts to Potential Joshua Matchup
Reflecting on the Wilder-Chisora fight, Shields said:
“They both crazy. I was happy to see Deontay Wilder get a win and not get hurt. And I want both of those guys to happily retire.”
Following Wilder’s victory, he and Joshua had an awkward encounter that fueled speculation about a potential fight between the two aging heavyweights. When asked if Wilder vs Joshua is still an enticing matchup, Shields was direct in her assessment.
“Not to me, but hey, if they want to do it, then go ahead,” she said.
The potential Wilder-Joshua fight has been discussed for years but never materialized when both fighters were in their primes. Whether the two former world champions will finally meet in the ring remains to be seen.
Deontay Wilder won a split decision over Derek Chisora on Saturday at The O2 Arena in London, taking their 12-round DAZN pay-per-view main event by scores of 115-111, 112-115, and 115-113.
It was the 50th professional fight for both men, and the bout lived up to its billing as a power-punching heavyweight brawl. Chisora, who weighed in at 266.7 pounds on Friday, pressed the action throughout, working the body and throwing wide hooks. Wilder used his reach and jab to control distance but struggled to find clean shots early.
Wilder scored knockdowns in the fourth and eighth rounds, both with his trademark right hand. The eighth-round sequence was the fight’s defining moment, as Wilder backed Chisora into a corner and unloaded. Chisora survived both times and continued fighting back. Wilder also had a point deducted during a chaotically officiated bout.
The win was only the second decision victory of Wilder’s career, moving his record to 45-4-1 (43 KOs). Chisora drops to 36-14 (23 KOs).
Wilder Calls for Compassion, Eyes Title Run
Post-fight, Wilder said he pulled back in the later rounds after noticing swelling around Chisora’s temple. “Too many lives have been lost in this ring, nobody gives a damn about us,” Wilder told DAZN. “Us fighters have to look out for each other.”
Wilder also said he is targeting another title run, calling the fight “magnificent” and inviting Chisora to go fishing in Alabama. With back-to-back wins now under his belt, a potential matchup with Anthony Joshua could be next on the radar.
Chisora had said before the fight that this would be his final bout, but he declined to commit to retirement afterward. He thanked fans for supporting his career since he arrived in the UK at age 16 and started boxing, but stopped short of saying it was over for good.
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have reportedly agreed to fight in Dublin this fall, according to veteran promoter Kalle Sauerland. The heavyweight clash will take place in Ireland rather than the UK, US, or Saudi Arabia.
Sauerland revealed the news during a press conference for Derek Chisora vs Deontay Wilder on Wednesday. The two former heavyweight champions have fought on multiple occasions before, including in 2021, when they held every belt in the division.
Promoter Confirms September-October Timeframe
Speaking with IFL TV, Sauerland stated, “I think Fury-AJ is done for the Autumn in Dublin.” When pressed for details, he added: “That’s what I’ve heard, done for Dublin in I think September/October.”
The promoter acknowledged he may have revealed information prematurely. “Have I put my foot in it? That’s what I’ve heard, word on the street,” Sauerland said when asked if the news was public.
Croke Park Expected to Host Mega-Event
The fight is expected to take place at Croke Park, which has a capacity of 82,300. There have been active talks to have Katie Taylor finish her career at the stadium around the same timeframe.
Fury has ties to Ireland as a member of the traveling community and a former Irish heavyweight champion. Frank Warren has previously teased a potential collaboration with Eddie Hearn to stage a major event in the Irish capital.
Sauerland also revealed that the winner of Saturday’s Chisora vs Wilder fight will face Oleksandr Usyk next. Joshua is scheduled to attend the event alongside Hearn.
