Promoter says Anthony Joshua will return to boxing ring when ‘time is right’ after horror crash
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
British boxer Anthony Joshua is currently coping with the fatal loss of two members of his team following a car crash in Nigeria in Dec 2025.
PHOTO: AFP
LONDON – Anthony Joshua’s promoter believes that the former world heavyweight boxing champion will eventually return to the ring again, following a fatal car crash in Nigeria that killed two of his close friends.
The British fighter was a passenger in a Lexus sports utility vehicle that rammed into a stationary truck on a busy highway linking Lagos and Ibadan in south-west Nigeria on Dec 29.
Joshua’s backroom team members Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami died in the crash, while the boxer suffered minor injuries.
The incident sparked speculation as to whether Joshua will box again, but promoter Eddie Hearn said on Jan 14 that the 36-year-old would be given all the time he needed to cope with the loss of the two key members of his staff.
“I think A.J., as we have seen in the past on boxing-related stuff, is always a brave-face guy, a very positive guy,” Hearn told Sky Sports.
“This is very different to that and I know he will take his time.
“He will need his time physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually before he makes a decision on his future. I do think he will want to return to boxing, but that will be his decision when the time is right.”
The crash happened while Joshua was on holiday in Nigeria following his win against You-Tuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Miami on Dec 19.
Both Ayodele, the personal trainer of the former two-time unified heavyweight champion, and Ghami, Joshua’s strength and conditioning coach, died at the scene of the crash.
Before the accident, there was fresh talk of a long-awaited “Battle of Britain” between Joshua and Tyson Fury, the former world heavyweight champion who recently came out of retirement.
But Hearn added: “That is not a conversation that anyone is comfortable having... When the time is right, I believe he will make his decision and you will hear it from him.”
Earlier in January, Joshua paid a moving tribute to “great men” Ayodele and Ghami by saying on Instagram: “Thank you for all the love and care you have shown my brothers.
“I didn’t even realise how special they are. I’ll just be walking with them and cracking jokes with them, not even knowing God kept me in the presence of great men.
“100 per cent it’s tough for me, but I know it’s even tougher for their parents.”
Nigerian police charged the driver of the vehicle, Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, 46, with “dangerous driving causing death”. AFP
