BRITISH heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua, has been injured in a car crash in Nigeria, which killed two other people.
The former world champion was a passenger in a vehicle that collided with a stationary truck on a major expressway near Lagos.
Video from the scene showed the 36-year-old being helped out from the back seat of a wrecked SUV.
Five adult men were involved in the crash, Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said. The two who died were both “male foreign nationals”, according to local officials.
They added that Joshua and another man – the vehicle’s driver – were rescued by the boxer’s security team.
The crash took place on the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway at around 12:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Monday.
The incident involved two vehicles: a black Lexus and a stationary red commercial truck.
The FRSC said the Lexus was “suspected to be travelling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit”, based on preliminary findings.
It said the car appeared to have “lost control during an overtaking manoeuvre” and crashed into the stationary truck by the side of the road.
Pictures shared by the FRSC showed a wrecked car at the site of the crash, with a crowd of onlookers gathered around.
The Lagos-Ibadan expressway is known as one of Nigeria’s deadliest roads, with particularly heavy traffic at this time of year as many Nigerians living abroad visit for the festive period.
Joshua, who was born in Watford, has family roots in Sagamu – a town in Ogun State, south-west Nigeria, near the crash site.
He had been spending time in the country following his recent victory over American YouTuber-turned-boxer, Jake Paul, on December 19.(Paul posted on X after the crash: “Life is much more important than boxing. I am praying for the lost lives, AJ and anyone impacted by today’s unfortunate accident.”
Hours before the crash, Joshua posted a video to Instagram of himself playing table tennis with another man. It is unclear exactly when or where the video was taken.(BBC Sport)