Keith Sullivan addresses dive rumours surrounding Joshua vs. Prenga fight.
Last Saturday, we witnessed the near-disaster that was Anthony Joshua’s comeback fight against Kristian Prenga. Despite all 20 of his wins being by knockout, it was assumed by most that the Albanian’s power wouldn’t trouble the popular Englishman.
Only, it very much did, with Joshua being dropped twice in the first round before coming back in the second to put an end to proceedings in a short-lived–but very entertaining–affair.
Now Keith Sullivan (Prenga’s manager) has stated that his fighter had complications going into the bout, refuting claims that Prenga threw the fight after his success early on.
Speaking to DriveTime host Ade Oladipo, Sullivan stated, “There were two conspiracies. One was that Turki [Alalshikh] had come over to our corner … You were there, Ade. Turki was not even in Jeddah [the location of the fight], so that never happened. That’s gone. Throw it away.
“The other conspiracy was that somebody from Sela or Matchroom had come and whispered in our corner. Look at the footage; that never happened.”
Sullivan went on to state that Prenga had been bedridden for 8 days with a fever and hadn’t done any preparation for two weeks by the time he travelled to Jeddah.
“In the first round, he [Prenga] came out and just gassed himself out”, said Sullivan. “The instructions in the corner for the second round were, ‘Continue what you’re doing, keep the pressure on, keep pumping the jab, and when you have the opportunities, take him.’
“Kristian stood up off the stool to start when that bell rang for the second round, and he said to me he felt like he was back in that bed that he was in for eight days, when he was gasping for air and had no energy.”
And so, the big upset was not to be, whatever the reasoning ultimately was. However, Kristian Prenga sure came very close. Terrifyingly close, in fact, for Joshua’s fans and supporters.
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