Jake Paul has expressed his concern and well-wishes for Anthony Joshua following a devastating car accident involving the heavyweight boxer. The incident, which occurred in Nigeria, resulted in the death of two passengers, while Joshua, 36, was taken to a hospital after being ‘rescued alive’.
The accident comes just days after Paul and Joshua faced off in a highly publicized boxing match on Netflix, where Paul was defeated by a knockout in the sixth round.
In a heartfelt message on social media platform X, Paul emphasized the importance of life over sports, stating, “Life is much more important than boxing. I am praying for the lost lives, AJ, and anyone affected by today’s unfortunate accident.”
Joshua, a former heavyweight champion, was reportedly traveling in a Lexus SUV when it collided with a stationary truck on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway shortly after 11 a.m. on Monday.
Photographs released by Nigerian authorities show the severely damaged SUV, while another vehicle, a Mitsubishi believed to be part of Joshua’s convoy, appears to have escaped the crash unscathed, parked just a short distance away.
Jake Paul said that he’s ‘praying’ for Anthony Joshua after the boxer’s horror car crash
Paul and Joshua shared the boxing ring on Dec 19th, just 10 days before Joshua’s crash
Footage posted online appears to show former heavyweight world champion Joshua, 36, shirtless and looking dazed as he sits in the wrecked Lexus among shattered glass
Images of the SUV’s crumpled wreckage were released by Nigerian officials, while a Mitsubishi believed to be part of Joshua’s convoy sat undamaged just yards away.
The entire front of the vehicle is destroyed, with the car’s doors ripped out and the roof smashed out of place.
Footage posted online earlier show the former heavyweight world champion shirtless and looking dazed as he sat in the wrecked vehicle among shattered glass.
But while two of the five people involved in the collision died, Joshua miraculously cheated death and was later seen in the front seat of an emergency vehicle speaking to officials.
Five men were involved in the collision in total, Nigerian road safety officials said this afternoon.
It is understood that Joshua was seated behind the driver, along with another passenger, when the crash occurred. His security detail followed behind the Lexus.
Authorities said the SUV is believed to have been travelling ‘beyond the legally prescribed speed limit’ and lost control while making ‘an overtaking manoeuvre’, before crashing into a truck parked on the side of the road.
The Daily Mail understands the car’s tyre burst when it swerved and hit the truck.
Paul and Joshua shared the stage in Miami just over a week before the latter’s car crash
Joshua broke Paul’s jaw in two separate places as a result of their bizarre boxing bout
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Daily Mail Sport: ‘We are trying to contact Anthony and in the meantime we don’t want to speculate on how he is but thankfully he appears okay from what I have seen in the images.
‘We are awaiting more information on what has happened and will update in due course.’
Hearn was promoting Joshua for his fight with Paul earlier this month and, after the bout, hit out at fans who claimed it had been ‘fixed’ or ‘staged’.
‘Absolutely no way ever. If you look at a couple of the right hands AJ missed with in the first couple of rounds, they would have done the same job on Jake’s jaw if they would have landed,’ Hearn said.
‘And Jake did very well to avoid them, so I always said going into the fight, AJ’s not the kind of guy who’s gonna come out like a train – just start swinging away. He’s gonna take his time and that’s what he did.’
Joshua ended up finishing the job with a knockout punch which broke Paul’s jaw in two places and led to multiple lost teeth.
Hearn did admit that Joshua was expecting the fight ending sooner than it did.
‘The fight definitely went a few more rounds than anticipated from Anthony. But it’s like even now, ‘yea it was definitely fixed.’ Some guy commented today on one of my posts it was definitely fixed. You do know that he’s broken his jaw in two places?’ Hearn said.
