Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury remain on course for a British super-fight in November after both came through warm-up bouts over the weekend.
For Joshua, in particular, it was a case of only just. The former two-time champion was floored by the first serious punch he took and looked likely to be stopped by the unknown Kristian Prenga at the Jeddah Superdome on Saturday night.
With tens of millions of dollars and the Fury fight at stake, he gathered himself and knocked out Prenga in the second round.
“[Prenga] is a serious fighter, strong, durable and he came and gave me a good test, but this is what champions do – we rise, man. We get knocked down, we stand up and we keep going. That's life,” Joshua told reporters.
Contracts have been signed, but the venue and date for the Fury fight, more than a decade in the works, have yet to be revealed.
How did Anthony Joshua look?
In a word: awful. There's simply no getting away from it. Yes, his eventual knockout win was spectacular and is already a viral clip rapidly spreading across social media platforms, but what happened in that opening round was disturbing.
As Joshua has aged, suffered more defeats and been less active, he has become increasingly vulnerable. The London 2012 Olympic gold medallist has always been a high-wire act – a truly exciting spectacle, but one that could end in disaster at any moment.
It wasn't just that he was dropped by Prenga; it was how badly he was hurt. The Albanian had no problem finding him with a short uppercut and Joshua was shaken to his boots. After that he was down once more and appeared hurt by everything that Prenga landed. His punch resistance was non-existent.
When you consider that he was down five times against Daniel Dubois in 2024 and even social media star Jake Paul was able to land on him, there's ample evidence to suggest Joshua shouldn't be fighting any more.
That's especially true when you consider the awful car crash in Nigeria at the turn of the year, in which he was injured and lost two of his best friends.
If the enormous payday for fighting Fury wasn't there, would he still be doing this? Only he knows the answer, but you would suspect not.
How did Tyson Fury look?
Not much better. Around 24 hours earlier, Fury posted a stoppage win over Mariusz Wach in Thailand. The Polish veteran failed to answer the bell after seven one-sided rounds in Pattaya, and Fury got the warm-up win he wanted.
It's difficult to judge Fury as he never looks athletic. But at 38 next month, he seems increasingly unable to reach the levels of performance he displayed earlier in his career.
Against Wach, he looked like someone doing an impression of the old Fury. He was overweight, slow, and somewhat vulnerable himself.
Wach is one of the most ponderous fighters at heavyweight but was still able to land a couple of flush right hands.
What did we learn?
Fury has been the consensus favourite against Joshua for many years and this weekend's action will only have cemented that fact. Joshua's vulnerability is there for all to see.
That said, Fury himself is declining rapidly, and Joshua will have a puncher's chance. As he showed in the second round in Jeddah, he can still be lethal if he finds a home for his right hand.
What the two warm-up bouts truly revealed, however, is that both men are a shadow of their former selves.
It could lead to an entertaining and sloppy shoot-out between two compromised former champions, but that is little consolation when you think what might have been had they met in their primes.
