Anthony Joshua, though he knocked out Kristian Prenga in two rounds, has been met with fierce criticism since he returned to the ring last month.
Now trained by the team behind Oleksandr Usyk, which is headed by Sergey Lapin, the 36-year-old Joshua emerged from a hellacious opening round, in which he was dropped and rocked on multiple occasions, to flatten the unheralded Prenga in the second.
Joshua, who stopped Jake Paul in six rounds in December, was embarking on his first fight since he survived a car crash that killed two of his closest friends. The accident occurred in Nigeria, mere days after Joshua had defeated Paul.
Regardless, that the Englishman was floored and hurt by Prenga triggered concern.
Plenty of observers even labelled Joshua, 30-4 (27 KOs), as ‘shot’ with more than one suggesting he should retire rather than head into battle with 37-year-old Tyson Fury, himself on the comeback trail following two losses to Usyk in 2024.
“There has always been doubt, and there probably always will be,” Lapin told Lyllo Casino. “Throughout our journey, people have questioned our decisions, our methods, and the level of our team. We do not answer with words. We answer with results.
“The most important thing to us is that the athlete feels strong, confident, and comfortable with the process. Everything else is just outside noise.
“There have been many people like that [Chris Mannix criticising the corner work]. They light up like matches, burn out quickly and disappear. The reality is that talking is their job. Our job is to prepare the athlete, make the right decisions, and deliver results in the ring.
“Do I think Team Usyk should lead ‘AJ’ into the Fury fight? I do not think anyone else should decide which team must lead AJ. That decision belongs to the athlete.
“But the facts are simple. This team has already prepared for Fury twice and successfully completed that mission twice. We understand Fury, we understand the challenge, and we understand what it takes to beat him. So why not use that experience with another exceptional fighter?
“AJ will knock Fury out. He is not just a powerful puncher. He is a machine that delivers devastating shots. Tyson has never faced an opponent with this combination of power, speed, and physical pressure. Once AJ starts landing clean, the fight will end.”
Lapin expects a formal announcement to be made regarding Joshua-Fury “when the time is right”.
