{"id":207103,"date":"2025-12-29T18:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/207103\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T18:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:48:07","slug":"ex-heavyweight-champion-anthony-joshua-injured-in-nigeria-highway-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/207103\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua injured in Nigeria highway crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police said the wreck, in which two people in Joshua\u2019s car were killed, occurred around 11am on Monday (local time), in the town of Makun, along the Lagos\u2013Ibadan Expressway.<\/p>\n

\"AA shirtless Anthony Joshua could be seen grimacing in pain after the crash. Photo \/ X<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said that the Lexus Joshua was riding in \u201cwas suspected to be travelling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit on the corridor, lost control during an overtaking manoeuvre and crashed into a stationary truck… by the side of the road\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, a witness who gave his name as Kunle told AFP: \u201cThe truck was not stationary when the accident happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople rushed to help without even knowing those inside the car,\u201d the 27-year-old said. \u201cIt was when we got there we realised it was Anthony Joshua that\u2019s inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FRSC said that Joshua\u2019s car was towed to the police station in nearby Sagamu.<\/p>\n

Joshua\u2019s family hails from the southwest Nigerian city and he is known to visit there when he\u2019s in the country.<\/p>\n

Photos released by the FRSC showed a totalled black SUV, and what appeared to be blood on the road.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has been injured in a highway accident in Nigeria in which two people died. Photo \/ Giorgio Viera, AFP<\/p>\n

An AFP reporter on the scene Monday evening saw the 18-wheeler truck that Joshua\u2019s car was said to have hit being towed off the highway.<\/p>\n

\u2018More important than boxing\u2019<\/p>\n

Police said two people \u201clost their lives at the scene\u201d.<\/p>\n

The names of the victims have not been released but a spokesman for the Ogun state governor said preliminary reports indicated they were \u201ctwo male foreign nationals\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice said the crash occurred in the town of Makun, along the Lagos\u2013Ibadan Expressway. Photo \/ X<\/p>\n

Earlier this month Joshua knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a Netflix-backed bout in Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is much more important than boxing. I am praying for the lost lives, AJ and anyone impacted by today\u2019s unfortunate accident,\u201d Paul said Monday on X.<\/p>\n

The former Olympic champion Joshua has since been linked with a fight against compatriot and fellow former world champion Tyson Fury.<\/p>\n

Joshua\u2019s last fight before the match with Paul was a fifth round knockout loss to fellow Briton Daniel Dubois in September last year.<\/p>\n

– Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police said the wreck, in which two people in Joshua\u2019s car were killed, occurred around 11am on Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1081,8791,6028,3549,126452,11784,2740,50218,26755,78,10933,104,38862,3375,39937,111,139,24648,126453,69,384,675,3048,213,31145,1361,377],"class_list":["post-207103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-accident","tag-anthony","tag-champion","tag-crash","tag-exheavyweight","tag-fatal","tag-former","tag-heavyweight","tag-highway","tag-in","tag-injured","tag-injuries","tag-joshua","tag-killed","tag-minor","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nigeria","tag-nigerian","tag-nz","tag-people","tag-police","tag-said","tag-sports","tag-suffered","tag-that","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}