Anthony Joshua opens up on loss of his best friends in tragic car accident ahead of comeback fight
Anthony Joshua has admitted he's had to hold himself together to avoid 'going crazy' following the death of his two best friends in a car crash he walked away from.
Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, 36, will return to the ring for the first time since the fatal car crash tonight, July 25, and has opened up on the deaths of his closest confidants.
Joshua's strength coach Sina Ghami and personal trainer Latif Ayodele died on December 29, 2025, when a car they were all travelling in crashed into a stationary truck on an expressway near Lagos, Nigeria.
The right-hand side of the car, where Ghami and Ayodele were sat in the front and rear passenger seats, was destroyed, but the left was relatively untouched.
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The driver and Joshua both walked away from the crash, with the boxer injuring his ribs and spending two days in hospital.
Joshua has had to train for his return bout against Albanian Kristian Prenga without his friends and says that the grief still 'hurts.'
“I’m not going to make it about me, because someone somewhere has just lost their mum or just lost their dad, so you have to keep it together," he said in the pre-fight press conference.
“It is hard, but if you let it get to you, it’ll ruin you. You know what I mean? It’s tough but so many people are going through the same situation.
“You just have to humble yourself and not make it all about you. The whole world unfortunately doesn’t stop for my situation.
“So I’ve just got to kind of keep myself together. Because, if I was to let it get to me, I’d probably end up going crazy.
"It just hurts, a lot, but you’ve just got to hold it together, basically, if I’m honest.”
'Fate is something that you can never predict'
Joshua says he now looks at life differently following the crash, which came just 10 days after his knock-out victory against Jake Paul as he travelled to visit relatives in Sagamu, Ogun state, for New Year celebrations.
He said: “My core – my core self is strong. So has it changed my core self? No.
“But I definitely look at things a lot differently. Like fate is something that you can never predict, you just don’t know.
“Like this Saturday, everyone is talking about me fighting Tyson Fury, but you just never know.
“You never know what’s around the corner. You just never know. Just like that, things can change.”
Eddie Hearn 'astonished' by Joshua
Promoter Eddie Hearn has been left 'astonished' by Joshua's mental fortitude as he's trained for his return to the ring in Dubai.
He said: “The real truth is, when the head hits the pillow at night, you never really know what anyone’s thinking or what they’re going through.
“You can show all this strength, you can train three times a day, but in those moments on your own, I can’t even imagine.
“He has astonished me in this camp because I couldn’t even imagine how you draw the strength to get yourself physically ready and overcome what’s happened mentally.
“There will have been moments when he has naturally gone to phone or physically ask them for something, just like a bottle of water, and he would have been hit again by the fact they are not there.
“These people – especially Sina – were there every day, every second of every day.
“He also had to return back to Dubai, to the house where they all lived. It’s unbelievable strength. I’m just pleased to see him back.”
Following the crash, Joshua paid tribute to Ghami and Ayodele on Instagram, writing: "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% it's tough for me, but I know it's even tougher for their parents."
Joshua vs Prenga are fighting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the ring walk times expected at 11pm BST.
Topics: Anthony Joshua, Boxing, UK News, Sport, Eddie Hearn
Daniel Murphy