Anthony Joshua speaks out on the death of his two ‘special’ best friends in fatal car crash for the first time: ‘It’s tough for me – but even tougher for their parents’

Anthony Joshua has broken his silence following the deaths of his two ‘special’ best friends in a car crash in Nigeria in December.

The boxer survived the accident with minor injuries, but his long-time friends Sina Ghami and Kevin Latif Ayodele died when their SUV crashed into a stationary truck on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Makun, Nigeria.

Ayodele was Joshua’s personal trainer, while Ghami was his strength coach.

Sharing a graphic of the duo on Instagram, Joshua wrote: ‘Thank you for all the love and care you show my brothers. I didn’t even realize how special they were.

‘I will walk with them and joke with them, not even knowing that God holds me in the presence of great men.

‘It’s 100% hard for me, but I know it’s even harder for their parents. I have a strong mind and I believe God knows their hearts. ‘May God have mercy on my brothers.’

Joshua shared this graphic of his personal trainer and strength coach on Instagram

AJ was released from hospital late on New Year’s Eve and made an emotional visit to a funeral home to pay his respects.

Kolawole Omoboriowo has known AJ for eight years and broke the news about the accident to his family.

He, who is co-ordinating Joshua’s logistics in Nigeria, described the crash as a ‘crazy nightmare’ and said Ayodele, one of those killed, was ‘like a twin brother’ to the boxer.

Omoboriowo told Sky News: ‘What’s in my head at the moment is: “How do we get AJ out of this traumatic situation?” And that’s the only thing everyone is worried about right now.

Everyone might think AJ is fine right now. But we don’t know how he’ll take it.

‘But right now we just want everyone to give him a moment to really relax, to rest, and we take it from there.

He added: ‘We must continue to pray for AJ, may God give him the strength to continue through this loss.’

Until now, we knew very little about how Joshua was handling the tragic event. However, UFC fighter Kamaru Usman had a video call with her while she was recovering at the Duchess International Hospital on December 30.

During the meeting with Usman, Joshua was sitting in the treatment room and described the incident while appearing to have bandages on his head and torso.

He started by saying, ‘Of course, two of my close friends passed away.’

Usman, a former UFC heavyweight champion, questioned whether Ghami and Ayodele were sitting in the front of the black Lexus at the time of the crash.

Joshua answered: ‘One was in front and one was behind him on the right side. They both passed away. It still hasn’t sunk. It hasn’t hit me yet’. Joshua had switched seats with Ayodele just before departure.

Osman said: ‘I felt sorry for that man. ‘Hey, you scared the world, I’ll tell you that now.’

Joshua replied: ‘Life is short my friend, life is short. And now look, I’m going to talk to you for the first time.’

Osman later said: ‘I know. Funny way to move things, you know?

‘You scared the world. It’s so crazy because obviously we deal with the haters and all the bullshit every now and then and it sucks to have something serious like that to really see how many eyes are on you.’

On Friday last week, the driver, 47-year-old Adeniyi Kayode, appeared before a magistrate in Sagamu, charged with dangerous driving causing death, careless and negligent driving, incapacity to drive and causing damage and damage to property by driving without due care and attention.

If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.

Authorities are still searching for the driver of the truck illegally parked on the Lagos-Ibadan highway, one of Nigeria’s deadliest roads.

Kayode was behind the wheel of the black Lexus SUV carrying Joshua and his friends when the vehicle crashed into the back of a stationary truck carrying soybeans.

More to follow.