Anthony Joshua, renowned for his impressive physique and status as a two-time world heavyweight boxing champion, first captured the public’s attention when he clinched Team Great Britain’s final gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Despite his high-profile achievements, the details of his romantic life continue to intrigue fans, given his seemingly eligible bachelor status.

Recently, the North London native celebrated a significant victory after a six-round showdown with YouTube sensation Jake Paul, which reportedly earned each fighter a staggering £70 million last Friday night.

As anticipated, Joshua emerged victorious, delivering a decisive blow that fractured Paul’s jaw in two places before ultimately securing a knockout. Reflecting on the match, Joshua expressed that he should have concluded it even sooner.

Originally from Watford, Joshua honed his skills at Finchley Boxing Club in North London. Since rising to fame at the 2012 Olympics, his career has seen both triumphs and unexpected setbacks.

Joshua’s personal journey has also been under the spotlight. He has candidly shared his transformation from a lifestyle that included smoking six joints a day to becoming a top-tier athlete.

At 36, Joshua remains a devoted father and continues to live with his mother in a council house valued at £175,000, which he purchased for her. This modest living arrangement contrasts sharply with his estimated fortune of over £200 million.

Joshua has also described himself as very single, while otherwise keeping his private life as carefully guarded as you might expect from a top boxer fending off in the ring.

Yet he did speak out a little more in a documentary interview with Louis Theroux in 2023 – and has also used X, formerly Twitter, to celebrate being a father.

Among revelations in the Theroux chat were that Joshua used to smoke cannabis six times a day from the age of 13, the first the moment after he would wake up.

He has also told how any potential love interest would have to be impress his social mother Yeta Odusanya – while also suggesting hopes of ultimately having six children.

He told The Jonathan Ross Show in April 2021: ‘I want to have loads.

‘Someone said to me, which makes sense, when you’re young, you don’t want to have kids, but when you’re older and settled down and retired you wish that you had more kids around you, so I’m just looking ahead – loads for me is probably another six.’

Joshua has previously denied reported romantic links to celebrities including models Bella Hadid and Cara Delevingne, having been pictured with them in the past.

But he does have a son with childhood sweetheart and now former partner Nicole Osbourne, and has said the ex-couple remain on good terms.

He told Theroux, ‘Amazing woman, you know’, while telling how they got together around 2005 when they were 15 or 16 – adding: ‘So much respect’. 

Nicole Osbourne, then 26, was revealed in April 2016 to have given birth to their son Joseph about six months earlier though they were not in a relationship at the time.

Reports said Miss Osbourne, a star of YouTube pole-dancing videos and teacher at a Watford gym, lived in Finchley with Joseph.

Joshua, 26, shared a photo of their son and described as his ‘lil champ’ in a car seat.

The boxer captioned the adorable image, posted to X: ‘Achieved one of my goals as a professional boxer! Now the dust has settled it’s time to relax with my lil champ JJ.’

The post followed his two-round victory over US fighter Charles Martin to become IBF world champion. 

He and Miss Osbourne had first met at Kings Langley School in Watford, before he worked as a bricklayer while also pursuing his aspiring boxing career.

Joshua won gold at the London 2012 Olympics just hours before the closing ceremony, defeating Italy’s defending champion Roberto Cammarelle in the final. 

He made his professional debut in October the following year and became British heavyweight champion by beating Dillian Whyte in December 2015.

His first reign as unified world heavyweight champion for the first time came with victory over Wladimir Klitschko at London’s Wembley Stadium in April 2017.

Yet his defeats since then have included one inflicted by Andy Ruiz Jr in New York’s Madison Square Garden in June 2019 and two by Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London in September 2021 and in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the following August.

A four-fight winning streak ended when he was knocked out by Daniel Dubois at Wembley in September last year – with the Jake Paul encounter his first since then. 

There seemed little doubt Joshua would get back to winning ways, against the YouTuber-turned-cruiserweight, at Miami’s Kaseya Center.

Now attention is turning once more to whether he will finally have an all-British battle with another former world heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury.

Known as ‘The Gypsy King’, 37-year-old father-of-seven Fury has not fought since the second of his two defeats to Usyk that happened last December – and he announced his retirement the following month, for the fifth time.

Fury has been married to his wife since 2008, having met in their teens.

Joshua has joked about his single status, including in the 2023 Theroux interview during which he insisted he was telling the truth about not having a girlfriend.

He said: ‘Imagine me going home to my missus now – she’d be like, “You denied me!”, this, that. I don’t want that stress, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t have no missus, no.’

Joshua also denied previous links suggested involving Cara Delevingne and Bella Hadid, saying: ‘I haven’t actually been with any of those girls, by the way.’

When asked by Theroux about his current home, Joshua replied: ‘My place is in London. I still live with my mum.

‘In our culture you grow up with your family. We grow up in our own family homes for a long time. We support our parents.

‘Why am I going to move out and leave my mum by herself for some girl?

‘When a man marries she becomes the child of the mum. When a girl gets with me, she isn’t just marrying me, she’s marrying my family.’

Joshua’s admiration and respect for his mother Yeta is something he has spoken about previously.

And she said in 2017: ‘I also remember one of your trainers, and he said: “You know what, mum, your boy, your son is going to be a world champion one day”.

‘And I was, like, “What’s he talking about?’. I didn’t take it quite seriously until he qualified for the Olympics.’

Joshua has flirted on screen with women before – including sports presenter Laura Woods after his win over Jermaine Franklin in April 2023.

When Woods asked him afterwards on IFL TV what he thought of her career, Joshua replied, ‘I think it’s blossomed amazingly, just like you.’

That prompted the presenter to ask how many times he had been hit on the head.

Later in the interview, Joshua replied ‘you’ when questioned about his dream date, at which point Woods punched the air and told him: ‘This is perfect.’

Woods, 38, is engaged to TV personality and fitness coach Alex Collard, with whom she has a son born in January this year.  

Meanwhile, Joshua has also been linked to British hair salon owner and influencer Kika Osunde after they quad-biked together in Dubai in March last year. 

The pair had shared a ringside kiss following his two-round triumph over Francis Ngannou in nearby Saudi Arabia.

According to The Sun, AJ rushed to Kika in the crowed following the match and asked: ‘How are you Kika? I haven’t seen you in so long! How are you?’

She replied, ‘Congratulations, I’m good’, before planting a kiss on his cheek.

They later went racing through the Dubai dunes with Kika wrapping her arms around the athlete and resting her head on his back.

A spokesman for Joshua responded at the time by telling the Daily Mail: ‘Anthony is in a relationship…. with professional boxing.

‘He has no time for extra commitments.

‘He is having a break from boxing and will return to the gym this week

‘Sadly the claims of a relationship are just rumours.’