Joshua says he is standing strong for crash victims' parents
Anthony Joshua has put his comeback on hold emotionally, saying he is standing “as a soldier” for the parents of two friends killed in a crash in Nigeria.
Anthony Joshua has made clear that his next fight is secondary to the grief left behind by the car crash that killed his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele in Nigeria. The two-time world champion said he is standing strong “as a soldier” for their parents, adding that “this isn’t about me” as he tries to keep their families at the centre of the aftermath.
Joshua was a passenger in the car when the crash happened on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway in December. He sustained minor injuries and was treated and discharged from hospital on New Year’s Eve before returning to the United Kingdom. The crash turned a routine journey into a personal catastrophe for one of Britain’s biggest boxing names, whose public schedule now sits against a private loss that still shapes his words.
He later visited the families of the dead men and attended funeral prayers at the London Central Mosque. Joshua has said the deaths were “tough for me, tougher for their parents,” and he paid tribute to Ghami and Ayodele as “brothers” and “great men.” In another tribute, he said he had not realised how special the pair were until after their deaths, a line that underscored how quickly mourning has become part of his return to the ring.
The fallout from the crash has also moved into the legal system in Ogun State. Police charged the driver with causing death by dangerous driving and driving without a valid licence. The case was adjourned to January 20, and bail was set at N5,000,000.
Joshua’s sporting calendar is still moving forward. He is scheduled to face Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on 25 July, in what will be his first fight since the accident. A victory would keep alive the possibility of a long-awaited showdown with Tyson Fury later in the year, but Joshua’s comments suggest the deeper work remains away from the spotlight, with the parents of Ghami and Ayodele still at the centre of his attention.
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