Catch-22 is the fabled paradox from which it is logically impossible to escape being exposed to mortal danger.

Good luck with that, AJ.

That catch phrase is the title of a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller in which World War II pilots had to prove they were insane to be excused missions of terrifying peril. But by making that claim of madness, they only proved to doctors that they were sane because they realised the jeopardy. So tallyho, carry on flying.

Catch-22 has gone into common usage to cover all manner of inescapable contradictions. For example, you cannot get a loan without having a bank account but you do not qualify for a bank account unless you have enough money.

Anthony Joshua is trapped in just such a parallel conundrum following his bizarre, down and up fight against the obscure Kristian Prenga in distant Saudi Arabia on Saturday night. Entwined as he is in two perverse conspiracy theories.

One, that his punch resistance has disappeared into the twilight of a career garlanded by Olympic gold and two world heavyweight championships.

Second, a public fixation that there was something fishy about how he could be dropped twice in the first round by an opponent who virtually stopped fighting in the second round until he was knocked out.

Either way, there is now no getting out of that far more hazardous fight against Tyson Fury for which the public have been baying for the best part of a decade. Not after the Gypsy King fulfilled his end of the bargain by beating up aged punch-bag Mariusz Wach the night before in Thailand.

There is a dispute over whether Joshua v Fury, The After-Thought, should take place in Wembley Stadium or New York’s Madison Square Garden. Wherever, Joshua has signed the contract in which too many hands are grubbing for so much money that he cannot afford to pull out.

Not even if that would be best for his future health, as many observers now believe. Not least some of those close to Joshua who are reporting that he looked oddly disconsolate and lonely in his dressing room before the fight. Lost, perhaps, in the memory of those two best friends who died in that car crash in Africa which he himself was lucky to survive.

Certainly, his mind was not on the job as he was dropped only 20 seconds after the first bell. Now, Prenga entered the ring with a record of 20 first and second round knockouts against only one defeat. Not that any of his victims would be recognised while standing upright in the street. 

And yes, I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of one of his punches. But neither the uppercut which dropped Joshua nor the combination which inflicted a second knockdown in round one looked perfectly timed or overly powerful by professional heavyweight standards.

And why did Prenga not press home his advantage in the second round? That question has been asked most insinuatingly by Simon Jordan, one-time football club owner turned talk radio star. What does he know? Probably no more than the rest of us. Which is that it was an odd, arguably manufactured weekend affair which ended with one referee not so much counting out Prenga when he went down but hovering over him in a manner which would have made it awkward for him to get up even if he wanted so to do.

Not that he showed any inclination to emulate Joshua’s courage in rising from the canvas. Not that he had the same incentive. His job was done. His reward banked. But Joshua had rescued the bigger and richer fight up the long road. Whether or not that is good for him.

Good old Eddie Hearn pondered if he had let AJ to come back too soon after his bereavements. But not whether he will be ready for Fury in the autumn.

Nor if it is his chin or his mental health which are party to the inevitable decline of a prize-fighter in his mid-30s. Or both. Fury will examine those possibilities more thoroughly than did Prenga.

If Joshua’s punch resistance was shattered permanently by the five knockdowns with which Daniel Dubois stopped him becoming a three-time world champion, the Gypsy King will find out. If his strength of will has been weakened, then beware Fury the master of mind games.

For AJ, there is no way out.

Not from Catch-22.