His Excellency Turki Alalshikh said this week that Joshua-Prenga continues to attract significant interest and attention since its announcement. He also pointed to the growing profile of Saudi Arabia as a destination for major sporting events and said organizers are looking forward to delivering an exceptional experience for fans through “The Comeback.”

The problem is that most of the interest surrounding the event has little to do with Prenga.

Up until today’s presser, this fight had zero traction, and honestly, the U.S. fans are completely tuning it out. Nobody in the States is losing sleep over a matchup against a guy whose best win is a fifth-round stoppage over Joey Dawejko.

Joshua snapping and looking insecure is literally the only thing that gave this kickoff press conference any pulse. When a former unified champ gets rattled by a challenger’s manager, it tells you everything you need to know about where his head is at. He looks incredibly vulnerable, and that is the only actual selling point right now.

Turki is absolutely going to have to get creative to inject some life into this promotion, especially now that they just announced the fight is being relocated from Riyadh to Jeddah. If he wants to drum up interest outside of the UK, he has to rely on his usual tricks:

• Build a Massive Undercard: Since the main event is a hard sell for casuals, Turki will likely stack the undercard with high-profile American fighters or major world title bouts to force U.S. fans to buy the PPV.
• The Tyson Fury Carrot: They are already pushing the narrative that a massive Fury fight is locked in for later this year. To get people to care about Prenga, the promotion will have to lean heavily into the “disaster potential.” Selling it as a trap fight where Joshua could ruin the biggest blockbuster in British boxing history if his fragile psyche gives out.
• Over-the-Top Marketing: Expect the usual cinematic, multi-million dollar trailer to drop soon to try and make Prenga look like an unstoppable Albanian monster, even if his resume says otherwise.

Right now, the only real intrigue is psychological. Fans aren’t tuning in because they think Prenga is an elite heavyweight; they are tuning in to see if Joshua’s confidence is completely shot.