Fury vs Wach & Joshua vs Prenga: Betting Predictions, Odds & Preview
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are finally back in the ring this weekend, but unfortunately for British boxing fans, they’re not fighting each other! Not yet anyway.
For Joshua, obviously it’s been a very traumatic time after losing his friends in that terrible accident at the end of last year. At one point, it didn’t look like boxing would be important to him again – and understandably so.
It’s unbelievable what AJ has achieved and an opponent like Kristian Prenga is certainly allowed given what he’s been through. He his new training team alongside Oleksandr Usyk, which should give him a big lift. As regards Prenga, I’ve only seen clips of him, and it is a massive drop in levels to the opponents AJ is used to fighting.
The Albanian has had 20 knockouts in as many wins, which suggests he can punch, but most heavyweights can punch! The level of those knockouts is questionable, with some of those fights not even at club level.
That said, he is a big bloke who can whack, but in AJ you’ve got an Olympic gold medalist and a two-time world champion. He has been one of the very best heavyweights of the last decade, and it would be an almighty upset if he can even push Joshua, never mind anything else.
I expect big Josh to have the job done inside three rounds. The undercard is where you’ll find competitive boxing. As I say, he can be forgiven for taking this fight – it will go early!
As regards the support acts – there is an absolute belter with Sunderland’s Josh Kelly defending his world title against Belfast man CaoimhÃn Agyarko. The latter is trained by my mate Stephen Smith – and I know they really fancy the fight.
Josh will be looking to build on his success in beating the then champ Bakhram Murtazaliev at the end of January, and even though this bout is taking place in Saudi Arabia, he will want to bring those big nights back to the north east.
I think this one is going to points and it will be a lot closer than a lot of people think. It will be nip and tuck, but you have to make Josh a slight favourite with silky skills and eye-catching work. I think the smart money is on Kelly to be victorious on points, but there will be little in it.
Chief support on the night features one of my favourite fighters in the shape of Hamzah Sheeraz. He is super talented and defends his WBO super-middleweight title against Simon Zachenhuber. The German is big, strong and a southpaw, but Hamzah is in a different league, and I’d fancy him against anyone in the division.
I think it’s going to be a painful, early night for Simon. Hamzah to win by knockout between the third and sixth rounds.
The night before the action at the Jeddah Superdome, Fury will take to the ring in the Thai resort of Pattaya against a familiar face in Mariusz Wach. The Gypsy King’s fight is on a similar level to AJ’s - it’s just a case of both of them shaking off a bit of rust.
The big Pole was once a force in the heavyweight division, but that was a very long time ago. He’s 46 now and has lost seven of his last ten fights.
I cannot imagine there being any problems for Tyson, but I don’t expect the kind of explosive demolition job that Moses Itauma inflicted on Mariusz. He has mixed in good company, but he isn’t a threat any more, as his recent record suggests.
Tyson will do what he does and play with Wach for a few rounds before turning up the heat to force a stoppage before the halfway point of the contest.
Hopefully, once the weekend is out of the way, we can start looking forward to a big domestic dust-up between Fury and Joshua – even if it is a bit late in the day!
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