All that talk surrounding a tune-up has taken on a different meaning for Anthony Joshua and his team. Six months after he knocked out Jake Paul, Joshua returned last week at Riyadh’s Jeddah Superdome to face unheralded Kristian Prenga on a Matchroom-DAZN card. Considering he came through a difficult period that saw two of his close friends and team members lose their lives, the matchup was largely viewed as an ideal assignment for AJ as he nears the Tyson Fury showdown.

But the plan almost derailed after Prenga knocked him down in the opening seconds of the bout; then another knockdown followed in the same round, and many believed it was all over for AJ. However, maintaining his winning streak, Anthony Joshua eventually knocked out the Albanian in the very next round. With some sections feeling Prenga had either thrown away his advantage or deliberately eased off, the victory, however, did little to silence the rumors that emerged afterward. In a recent interview with talkSPORT, Prenga’s manager, Keith Sullivan, addressed those allegations.

“We can clear those up very easily in one word, impossible,” Sullivan told Ade Oladipo. “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, 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… What happened here was Kristian had gotten very sick leading up to the fight. He didn’t spar or train for two weeks before he got to Jeddah (Superdome).”

According to Sullivan, Prenga had likely gassed himself out after he scored a knockdown against Joshua. As the British heavyweight gradually regained control, the momentum swing proved too much for Prenga. He appeared to lose his composure, and the lack of training only compounded the problems.

“But that’s what happened,” Sullivan concluded. “He was feeling the effects of a poor camp and being sick. He thought he could execute against AJ at any point in time.”

Sullivan’s explanation came in response to the recent comments by talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan. Reviewing the AJ-Prenga fight, the former chairman of Crystal Palace Football Club and media personality wrote on X, “Not having that … #anthonyjoshua fight …: Dropped twice and sets the tempo, how’s that?… Prenga totally different in 2nd. Something not quite right, all designed to rinse maximum amount of money.”

A similar concern was expressed by Paulie Malignaggi. Speaking with talkSPORT, the former welterweight champion was surprised by the U-turn in Prenga’s performance. For a heavyweight who knows how to throw a punch, and who was finding his rhythm after knocking down Joshua, it would be natural to assume he would continue to build on that momentum.

Instead, he pulled back on his attack, giving Joshua room to smother him with punches.

Malignaggi wondered whether the turnaround had anything to do with the upcoming Joshua-Fury showdown. It’s well documented that a lot of money is at stake for the fight, widely considered the biggest in the history of British boxing.

“So, is it possible that somebody whispered into the Prenga corner? Is it I’m just giving a conspiracy theory?” Malignaggi said.

Joshua, however, has dealt with similar speculation before.

Anthony Joshua’s familiar battle with conspiracy theories

Following his knockout victory over Jake Paul, online critics, including promoter Lou DiBella, reportedly questioned the legitimacy of the bout, with some alleging it was staged or that Joshua might have pulled his punches.

The accusations prompted swift denials and legal threats from Paul’s team, which rejected the claims and warned of potential defamation action.

The Prenga bout drew a similar response. Besides Sullivan defending the Albanian’s actions, even Joshua’s team also stepped in to vehemently deny the claims.

Dismissing Simon Jordan’s comments, Matchroom Sport CEO and Eddie Hearn’s father Barry Hearn slammed the popular sports radio co-presenter for being “divisive.”

Perhaps the most telling assessment of Joshua’s win came from his current trainer, Iegor Golub. Acknowledging that a great deal was riding on the fight in Riyadh, the trainer, who is a part of former undisputed champion and now Joshua’s mentor Oleksandr Usyk’s Ready To Fight team, praised the English heavyweight for showing character after suffering the knockdown.

Joshua pulled himself together and went to do what was expected of him, Golub explained, while warning against expecting the former champion to make a similar mistake when he faces the “very big fish”—Tyson Fury.