Lennox Lewis Questions If Anthony Joshua Should Still Be Fighting

Anthony Joshua got the win over Kristian Prenga in Jeddah last week — a second-round knockout that keeps his 29-4 (26 KO) record ticking and, on paper, keeps a long-awaited fight with Tyson Fury on track. But the manner of it has Lennox Lewis asking whether Joshua belongs in a ring at all right now.

Prenga, a fighter most expected AJ to walk through, dropped him twice in the opening round before Joshua recovered to finish the job. Speaking to The Ring, Lewis questioned whether that was the last we'll see of Joshua, pointing to the fact that a virtual novice put a former two-time unified champion on the canvas twice inside three minutes.

Why Lewis Is Worth Listening To

Lewis knows the exit better than almost anyone in the division's history. He walked away in 2004 while still holding a world title — one of the rare heavyweights who left on his own terms rather than being pushed out. When a man with that résumé asks whether it's time, it lands differently than the usual retirement chatter.

His concern isn't wild, either. Joshua's last outing before Prenga was a sixth-round stoppage of Jake Paul — hardly a tune-up against elite opposition. Stack a shaky performance against a novice on top of that, and the picture of a heavyweight running on reputation more than sharpness starts to form.

The Fury Problem

Fury, meanwhile, handled his own business the day before, retiring Mariusz Wach in the seventh. At 36-2-1 (25 KO) and ranked #3 in the division, 'The Gypsy King' is still operating at a level Joshua looked nowhere near against Prenga. That's the gap Lewis is worried about.

The fight is still pencilled in for Madison Square Garden in November, and Joshua looks set to proceed. Whether he should is the question Lewis just put on the table — and two first-round knockdowns don't make it easy to dismiss.