Inside Anthony Joshua's life in Nigeria: AJ's aristocratic Yoruba background, spell at boarding school learning harsh 'discipline' and how he gives back to the community after tragic car crash | Retrui News | Retrui
Inside Anthony Joshua's life in Nigeria: AJ's aristocratic Yoruba background, spell at boarding school learning harsh 'discipline' and how he gives back to the community after tragic car crash
SOURCE:Daily Mail
Rather than visit the luxury destinations popular with his sporting peers, Joshua was eager to share his success after with his close friends and relatives in his ancestral region of Ogun State in Nigeria.
Joshua, who was born in the UK but has Nigerian and Irish heritage through his parents Robert and Yeta, was making a triumphant return to his native soil in the wake of his crushing defeat of Jake Paul, which earned him a staggering £70million payday.
Rather than splash the cash in any one of the luxury destinations favoured by his fellow elite sportsmen, Joshua was eager to share his success with his close friends and relatives in his ancestral region of Ogun State, with the car making the fatal journey from the capital of Lagos to the town of Sagamu.
Nigeria has provided an important backdrop to Joshua's impressive career, and in turn, he has become one of their favoured sons.
Almost 12 months ago, Joshua was an honoured guest at Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu's residence, handing over an autographed boxing glove for the head of state who called him 'a true champion and worthy ambassador of Nigeria'. A year on, and President Tinubu was speaking to Joshua in his hospital bed in tragically different circumstances.
Here, Daily Mail Sport looks at Joshua's strong ties to his Nigerian heritage, and the work he has done to strengthen those bonds in his community.
Almost 12 months ago Anthony Joshua was honoured at the home of Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The British boxer maintains deep ties to his parents' homeland (pictured with his mother Yeta)
A born aristocrat
Joshua's Nigerian roots run deep, with a Telegraph Sport article revealing in 2018 that he is one of the great-grandchildren of a Sagamite aristocrat, Omo-Oba Daniel Adebambo Joshua, still known to everyone in Sagamu as Baba.
After becoming a successful businessman working in a number of different industries and trades, Baba Josh founded a school and a church in Sagamu, as well as owning multiple properties in the region.
Joshua's family is one of four ruling houses which can produce an heir to become the Akarigbo of Remo, the traditional king of the area in Ogun State, whose capital is Sagamu.
Although not fluent, Joshua also speaks some Yoruba, the language of his family's ethnic group, who are known by the same name.
He is also often referred to as 'Femi', from his middle name Oluwafemi, by his close friends and relatives - which in full means 'God loves me' in Yoruba.
Leaning discipline for life at Nigerian boarding school
Joshua's first brush with the custom and cultures of his homeland came at the age of 11, when his mother Yeta relocated back to Nigeria to set up a small business. Her son was put into boarding school in the town of Ikenna, with The Bells school playing a key formative role in making him into the fighter he is today.
Describing how 'discipline is on another level' at Nigerian schools in an article for The Players' Tribune, Joshua noted that after his move, 'everything was about structure'.
'We would iron our clothes in the morning and wash them at night. We had to respect our elders. Always.
Joshua has become a sporting ambassador for both the country and his native Ogun State
During his time at boarding school as a young adolescent Joshua was taught strict discipline
But Joshua also learnt more about Nigeria culturally, learning to speak Yoruba and its idioms
'Every morning we'd have to fetch our own water, but an older kid in the class might just take your water and there would be nothing you could do about it. So you'd have to get smart. Adapt. Maybe get a friend among the older guys, you know?'
As well as learning 'the language, the dialect, the expressions' of his home country, Joshua also learned 'how to protect (himself)', and when he returned to the UK six months later, Joshua remembered how he was 'so much stronger' than his cousins at home at only 12 years old.
Joshua later admitted that he hadn't been prepared for the experience, having thought he was only travelling on a family holiday.
'At the time you think, 'why?', but as you get older, you think it was good that you experienced it. It was good for me.'
But as much as the discipline played a role in shaping him, it was harsh.
'We got beaten,' Joshua added. 'That's my culture: beating.
'The government raise your kids now; parents aren't allowed to raise there kids, because there is so much control about what you do or what you say. In the (Nigerian) culture, it's family, outside support; everyone has a role in raising the kids.'
Needless to say, when Joshua as a 12-year-old returned to the UK, he thought he was 'in heaven'.
After a long absence following his months at boarding school Joshua finally returned in 2019
Joshua has always maintained high praise for Nigeria's cuisine, mentioning them as crucial to his pre-fight routine
Thwarted Olympic dreams of green and white
Although Joshua rose to international prominence as part of Team GB, a twist of fate ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics could have seen AJ compete under Nigeria's green and white flag.
'He reached out to us, asking to be part of our Olympic team, so we invited him to come down and take part in trials,' Obisia Nwankpa, former chief coach of the Nigerian boxing team, remembered in April 2017.
'Unfortunately, he did not appear when we asked him to and came down only when we had finished our trials, finalised our team and were about to travel for a training tour. Maybe other coaches would have accepted it, but I could not.
'It's a pity he did not get his chance at that time, but the two boxers we selected then, Durodola Olanrewaju and Onorede Ohwarieme, were outstanding and experienced and there was no way I was going to drop them for somebody I had not even seen.'
However, former Nigerian boxer Jeremiah Okorodudu claims that harsher words were exchanged at the time.
'When they turned him back, they told him that if was that good, he should have fought for Britain,' Okorodudu explained.
Was this advice given, Joshua duly heeded it, wearing British colours to claim his gold medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
His desire to connect with his heritage remained unabated. Joshua has the outline of the African continent tattooed on his arm, with Nigeria pointedly outlined, in part to symbolise his wish to be 'a representation of people'.
The tattoo of the African continent on Joshua's arm has Nigeria's place on the map outlined
'I've got it tattooed on my arm, so people can relate to me', he said in 2017.
But Joshua notably kept his distance, staying away from Nigeria to the extent that Tyson Fury, calling him out in June 2017 as he agitated for their meeting, dubbed him a 'plastic Nigerian'.
'Big femi (sic) your bully street name,' Fury wrote on an incensed social media post. 'I've seen your type many times.
'The man who can't speak his own mind, the plastic Nigerian. I'm more Nigerian than you! I'll fly the flag when we fight'.
Connection to the homeland regained
17 years after he left Nigerian soil, Joshua finally returned - but under drastically difference circumstances than he might have imagined.
That was in 2019, after his shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jnr that had lost him his heavyweight belts and plunged his future into question. Joshua chose to lick his wounds, and rebuild, in his homeland.
'When I went to Nigeria for the first time in maybe 17 years, I went there as a non-champion,' Joshua explained on Apple's Songs for Life podcast. 'And it was fine to go back, but people say, "Why did you come back as a non-champion?"
'I say, "because you respect me as a person whether I have the belts or not." Don't ever judge me for that. You respect me first.
'So that was my message, and it was just the right time. When you're winning, everyone wants a piece of you. When I lost, I had more time to do what I wanted.
Using the time to reconnect with family and friends, the next time he returned to visit was in turn a dramatic 180 experience.
Since returning to Nigeria Joshua has forged strong bonds with his extended family there
Joshua often shares pictures of his trips to Nigeria to Instagram, recently posting pictures of him offering a helping hand in his community
'I took my belts out there and connected with the people,' he added. 'It means a lot that we went there. My cousin went there. My son went there for the first time, stuff like that. So it was good.'
His ties to his family's historic region deepened too. In 2024, he was named sports ambassador for Ogun State, with state governor Dapo Abiodun announcing that his administration planned to construct an Anthony Joshua Indoor Boxing Ring in his honour.
'When I retire, probably I can think of setting up an academy in Nigeria, and if anyone wants to turn professional, we can also help them,' Joshua said only a handful of weeks ago.
Giving back to his communities
'To all Nigerians in the diaspora, you have a place to call home,' Joshua said after visiting Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the end of 2024. 'I’ll continue to put my feet on the soil here and give back to communities'.
Joshua certainly determined to do so - as he does in Hertfordshire where he remains based - and has funded a number of initiatives that have benefitted his historic hometown.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Joshua sent scores of gift-boxed necessities to the region, and regularly supports the region via his Clean Herts initiative.
One instance came in 2022, when his foundation donated food to over 5,000 people in Shagamu.
'As a family we're very passionate about giving back to our community, whether in the UK or our homeland Nigeria,' his sister Janet Joshua told local media at the time. 'And it was the season, God said so, so we moved according to the will of god.
'We're so proud and happy to put a smile on the people's faces.'
His mother Yeta added: 'I think the good thing to do is to give back to the community whenever you can.
'I know that Anthony does a lot in the UK and here in Nigeria as well.'