Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has spoken emotionally about the deaths of two close friends who died in a fatal car accident, during a conversation with UFC star Kamaru Usman.
The discussion, shared in a YouTube video posted by Usman, took place while Joshua was recovering from injuries sustained in the crash and ahead of an MMA event held in Lagos on December 30.
Joshua survived the accident on December 29 along the Lagos-Ibadan Motorway, which claimed the lives of his friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele. The boxer was rescued from the wreckage and taken to Duchess International Hospital, where he received medical care.
According to DailyMail, the video shows Joshua in a treatment room with bandages on his head and upper body as he told Usman that the weight of the loss had not fully registered.
Usman, a former UFC welterweight champion, asked whether Ghami and Ayodele had been sitting in the front seats of the black Lexus at the time of the crash.
Joshua responded, ‘One was in the front and one was behind him, on the right side. They both passed away. It still hasn’t sunk in. It still hasn’t hit me yet’.
‘I’m sorry for that man. Hey, you scared the world, I’ll tell you that right now,’ Usman replied.
‘Life is short man, life is short,’ Joshua said. ‘And now look, I get to speak with you for the first time’.
‘I know. It’s a funny way of moving things, you know?,’ Usman responded, adding, ‘We thank God’.
Usman also noted the global reaction to the incident, saying, ‘You scared the world. It’s crazy because obviously, we deal with the haters and all the bull**** each and every time and it sucks that it takes something serious like this to really see how many people have their eyes on you’.
After being discharged from the hospital, Joshua returned to the United Kingdom.
Anthony Joshua breaks silence after car crash, pays tribute to deceased friends
Anthony Joshua returns to UK after fatal crash in Nigeria
On Sunday, Joshua broke his silence on social media, posting a photo of himself with the families of the deceased and captioning it, “My Brother’s Keeper”.
The image, shared across his platforms, shows the former champion standing alongside the bereaved families in a show of support during a difficult period.