Boxer Anthony Joshua Breaks Silence After Car Crash That Killed Two Best Friends and Sent Him to the Hospital

British boxer Anthony Joshua spoke out for the first time since he was hospitalized from a car crash that killed two of his best friends.

Joshua, 36, was released from the hospital on Dec. 31, two days after the Dec. 29 crash that killed Sina Ghami, his strength and conditioning coach, and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, one of his personal trainers.

The former two-time world heavyweight champion took to Instagram on Sunday, Jan. 4 to share a photo of himself alongside his mother, as well as the mothers of Ghami and Ayodele, according to BBC.

“My brother’s keeper,” Joshua captioned the post alongside a pair of heart emojis.

Joshua was a passenger in a Lexus Jeep that smashed into a stationary truck while traveling along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Makun, according to local news outlets The Punch, The Daily Sun and The Guardian. The crash took place around 11 a.m. local time on Monday, Dec. 29, while Joshua was reportedly in the area to visit family for the holidays, according to BBC.

The crash took place just 10 days after Joshua defeated YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a high-profile match that streamed on Netflix.

BBC reported that Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, who was allegedly behind the wheel of the SUV at the time of the crash, has since been charged with deadly dangerous driving, as well as reckless and negligent driving, driving without due care, and driving without a valid driver’s licence. Kayode, 46, was granted bail and is expected to appear back in court on Jan. 20, according to the outlet. 

Kayode was a longstanding member of Joshua’s Nigerian logistics team, according to the London Evening Standard.

After the Dec. 29 crash, Lagos’ State Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, said in a statement on X that Joshua was “heavy-hearted and full of emotions over the loss of his two close friends.”

BBC reported that the funerals for Ghami and Ayodele took place Sunday at a mosque in London.