Anthony Joshua has had a meteoric rise from Watford council estate to £100m boxer. Having only started boxing at the age of 18, Joshua earned a place on the GB Boxing team within three years and won heavyweight gold at the London 2012 Olympics. Since then the belts haven’t stopped coming, but the boxer has remained humble despite all his immense success and vast wealth.
The heavyweight champion became Britain’s first official £100m boxer this week and could double that if he takes on arch-rival Tyson Fury later in the year. Rather than splash out his fortune on himself, Joshua prefers to spend money on his loved ones. He has shelled out for lavish homes, all expenses paid luxury trips and the best wheels money can buy for those who have helped him get to the top. Here is a look at Joshua’s life outside the ring and his relationships with his nearest and dearest.
Touching relationship with mum Anthony Joshua with his beloved mum Yeta When his parents divorced, Watford-born Joshua returned to England with his mother Yeta after a year in Jamaica. The boxer’s inspiring mum is a huge inspiration to him and they share an incredibly close bond. But she has only ever been to a couple of his fights because she finds it difficult watching her son being punched repeatedly in the ring.
In 2013, he bought an ex-council home for his mother for £175,000 in North London. Despite amassing a mass fortune through boxing, Joshua continued to live with his mum in her humble two-bed house in Golders Green. The boxer rented a £20,000 a week mansion to prepare for his big fight with Wladimir Klitschko, but reportedly moved back in with his mum after the match in 2017.
Joshua then moved into his own pad just minutes down the road, but mother and son have been living together in lockdown. He even invited his niece and cousin to move in so they could all be together in these strange times. “We are all aware there is a pandemic happening across the world but fortunately none of my family have had any tragic losses or massive effects from the virus,” said Joshua. “We are trying to take advantage of spending time together.”
Rarely-seen son
As well as his boxing career, Joshua spends his time being a hands-on dad to four-year-old son Joseph ‘JJ’ Joshua. After he split from JJ’s mum, ex-girlfriend Nicole Osbourne, he made sure they were both well looked after and bought her a £500,000 penthouse in North London. Despite being one of the most famous men on the planet, he is simply ‘dad’ to his young son.
“At home he doesn’t really think of me as a famous boxer or anything like that. I’m not a superstar and he doesn’t think so either. He knows I fight but that’s all,” he told The Sun. “I always keep that stuff away from home. I’m not like that at home – and I’m not even like that when I go out, really.”
