No, this has nothing to do with Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and their agreement to face each other late this year. But these words were in fact declared by manager Rock Newman in June 1994 regarding a fight between his client, Riddick Bowe, and the WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

We know that the showdown never happened, and it is always remembered as one of those heavyweight fights that simply got away.

For many, they never fought because Bowe famously put his WBC title in the bin instead of defending it against Lewis. The truth is, the fight actually fell apart two years later for more violent reasons.

A report from the Washington Post at the time stated that they had “signed a lucrative deal to fight sometime in November or early December.” Sound familiar?

At that point, the clash was headed for Las Vegas and even the broadcaster had been agreed upon. Lewis was guaranteed a minimum of $18 million, while Bowe would earn $13 million.

The only trouble was, before any of that, Lewis had to fulfill his mandatory obligations against a 24-5 challenger Oliver McCall, with their fight agreed for September of that year. The rest, as they say, is history.

And that is exactly what Joshua-Fury will be should the former somehow fluff his lines against Kristian Prenga on July 25. It is a name that not many outside the East Coast club scene have ever heard.

But should the unthinkable happen, it is a name that will be etched into boxing folklore forever. The man from the Albanian village of Orosh has the chance to make his surname a reference point for the rest of the sport’s history.

Ahead of any so-called “warmup fight” in the future, promoters could bat away suggestions of a mismatch by simply uttering those six letters. “Let’s not forget Prenga here,” they will say. “The Prenga bus is coming,” they may or may not add.

You only have to look at the social media response to the news that Joshua and Fury is finally signed to see what everyone is thinking. “Joshua’s tune-up opponent better be a complete tomato can,” one bloke said on X.

And without being disrespectful to Prenga here, Joshua was never going to return to the ring in a fight that anyone thought he was capable of losing. But this is heavyweight boxing, and stranger things have happened.

It is why Fury spent a large chunk of his press conference following his victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11 telling Joshua not to bother with a tune-up. Maybe he simply thought he would have a better chance of victory — or maybe he is genuinely worried that Joshua loses, gets cut or breaks a hand in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on July 25.

Let’s not forget that this is a man who sat ringside for Joshua’s brutal defeat to Daniel Dubois at Wembley in September 2024. As the rest of the crowd applauded Dubois’ victory, Fury could only turn away and put his head in his hands.

“That’s cost me £150 million,” he shouted. “The silly ****.”

None of this is to suggest that the upset is looming and, speaking purely as a British boxing fan, a victory for Prenga will represent a significant blow to the sport in this country as a whole. We would never get AJ-Fury and that would be a travesty which would haunt this battered old sport for decades.

The good news is that we know a fit and firing Joshua eats people such as Prenga for breakfast. A big, 6-foot-5, upright, orthodox heavyweight with enough ambition to provide an opening is very much Joshua’s bread and butter. See Dominic Breazeale, Robert Helenius, Gary Cornish or even Francis Ngannou for your proof.

But the question which hangs over this one is what version of Joshua remains in 2026. Since that night against Dubois, he has boxed only once, and he was hardly devastating against the novice figure of Jake Paul, nearly 30 pounds lighter than him, until he liquidated his jaw in the sixth round.

Ten days after that outing came the crash which would alter the course of Joshua’s life forever. It is why he requested a little more time to make up his mind on his future and why, he said, a tune-up was necessary.

There has been criticism of Prenga as the opponent. That this is a total mismatch that will be so easy for Joshua that it’s barely worth having. The problem is that nobody knows exactly what will happen the next time he gets under those lights, not even Joshua.

But if this is a fight that finally secures Joshua-Fury, Fury-Joshua, or whatever the two biggest names in British boxing this century have agreed to call it, then sign me right up.