Anthony Joshua has spoken publicly for the first time since the car accident in Nigeria that killed two of his closest friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, in December. The former world heavyweight champion said his primary focus has been on supporting the parents of the deceased, rather than processing his own grief.
“I’m just there for their parents. Number one is being a good soldier for them. Gotta look after the boys’ parents,” Joshua told the media in London. “I have to put my emotions to the side because I focus on the parents. My emotions can come at a later stage.”
Joshua, who was injured in the crash, will return to the ring on 25 July in Saudi Arabia for a tune-up fight against Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga, ahead of a potential bout with Tyson Fury in November. Prenga acknowledged the tragedy’s potential impact on Joshua, saying, “I feel sorry for him and his team but I think it’s definitely going to affect him.”
Joshua has been working with Oleksandr Usyk, the world heavyweight champion who has beaten him twice. He praised Usyk’s loyalty to his team and the psychological edge gained from reading Fury’s autobiography. “I know he read Fury’s book. You learn a lot about someone when you get to understand their psyche,” Joshua said, adding he would also read Fury’s book, joking, “I’ll get someone to nick it.”
When reminded that Fury had highlighted Joshua’s knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024, Joshua retorted, “We can talk about loads of comparisons, but for him to talk about Dubois’s success and use it as his own shows me that he’s a dick rider.”
