LAGOS, Nigeria — Tributes were paid after the crash that injured British former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and killed two shut mates on Monday, amid rising fear over Nigeria’s roads following the fatal incident close to Lagos.
Joshua, a two-time heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist, was once beneath “statement” whilst convalescing from minor accidents, his promoter mentioned Monday.
Nigeria’s Federal Street Protection Corps mentioned the coincidence alongside a big freeway connecting Lagos, the rustic’s financial hub, and Ogun state was once a results of “over the top pace and wrongful overtaking,” which had led to the automobile to collide with a desk bound truck by way of the roadside. Eyewitnesses say the automobile’s tire had burst at excessive pace.
Joshua had not too long ago gained a bout towards Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Dec. 19, a struggle he used to beef up health in a bid to contest long run top-flight boxing titles.
The previous international heavyweight champion, who additionally holds Nigerian nationality, is in “solid situation” and would stay in clinic for additional “statement” consistent with his promoter, Matchroom Boxing. Joshua’s long-term buddies and crew participants, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, have been killed within the crash, the promoter mentioned in a observation posted on X.
Ghami was once Joshua’s power and conditioning trainer whilst Ayodele was once a teacher. Simply hours ahead of the crash, Joshua and Ayodele posted clips on social media taking part in desk tennis in combination.
Mustafa Briggs, a pal of Ayodele, described him as pure-hearted and honest. “He had no longer a foul goal or a foul bone in his frame,” Briggs instructed U.Okay. broadcaster Sky Information. “He cherished existence, he loved existence,” he mentioned.
Outdoor a health club owned by way of Ghami in London, bouquets of vegetation were left on the front. Evolve Gyms was once quickly closed on Tuesday to mourn the lack of its “cherished proprietor,” consistent with a observation posted at the development.
The high-profile coincidence has brought on severe considerations about highway protection on Nigerian highways, the place injuries are not unusual.
The West African country recorded 5,421 deaths in 9,570 highway injuries in 2024, consistent with information by way of the rustic’s Federal Street Protection Corps. Its information confirmed 340 extra folks have been killed in highway injuries closing yr in comparison to 2023.
Mavens say a mix of things together with a community of dilapidated roads, lax enforcement of site visitors rules, and indiscipline by way of drivers, produces the awful statistics.
The desk bound truck that Joshua’s automobile hit is a fixture of Nigeria’s thoroughfares, frequently inflicting large gridlocks. Items and meals are transported throughout Nigeria’s huge geographical achieve by the use of those vehicles, which professionals say have a tendency to be in deficient situation and are accountable for lots of injuries.
“The superiority of injuries in Nigeria is a major factor,” Pain Ogu, the CEO of the Street Twist of fate Prevention Community Centre, an Abuja-based nongovernmental group, instructed The Related Press. “Lots of the vehicles aren’t so as, and the regulation enforcement company must step up its efforts.”
Monisola Abosede, a 27-year-old marketer who lives in Lagos and commutes a number of kilometers each and every weekday for paintings, has been taken with two injuries in December by myself.
“In Lagos, everyone seems to be in a hurry to get someplace; persons are all the time at the transfer,” she instructed The AP, blaming crashes at the town’s heavy site visitors mixed with the dangerous state of its highway community.
British heavyweight megastar Tyson Fury has led the tributes from the boxing group within the aftermath of the crash. “That is so unhappy. Would possibly god give them a just right mattress in heaven,” he posted on Instagram.
Boxer Chris Eubank Jr, who closing month fought a high-profile middleweight bout, expressed his make stronger and condolences. “Thank god our heavyweight champ survived that terrible automobile crash. And pray for the 2 fallen squaddies Latz & Sina & their households,” Eubank Jr posted on X. “I knew each … they have been in truth just right males. Leisure in Peace boys.” British boxer Shannon Courtenay, a ladies’s bantamweight fighter who fought previous this month within the build-up to the Joshua-Paul struggle in Miami, Florida, posted a photograph of her with Joshua on Instagram. “In addition to Sina and Latz please stay the large guy (Joshua) on your prayers,” she wrote, including. “No guy will have to have to head thru and witness what he went thru these days dropping his two highest buddies.”
Former international champion Wladimir Klitschko, who was once stopped within the eleventh spherical by way of Joshua at Wembley Stadium in 2017, wrote on X: “I’m deeply saddened to listen to about AJ and his close-knit crew of buddies.
“Having had the excitement of enticing in an unforgettable fight with AJ, I’ve all the time looked him as a real magnificence act who instructions my utmost recognize.
“My center is going out to him, and I want him and his family members the entire highest all over this tough time.”
