£61m Anthony Joshua bought his ex a £500k penthouse and his mum a Range Rover – without spending one penny on himself
ANTHONY JOSHUA has splashed out on multiple homes, no-expense spared holidays and flashy sports cars since hitting the big time – but he doesn’t enjoy any of it.
That’s because the heavyweight champ doesn’t spend any of his £61million fortune on himself, preferring to treat those around him.
He even puts local kids through their schooling and pays for medical care for others.
An insider told The Sun Online: “AJ doesn’t splash his cash on himself but he does on others; his team, his family, his past trainers, his friends and his community.
“He could have bought himself a mansion years ago but that has been his last priority because he’s made sure everyone else was sorted first.
“The gifts aren’t him being flash, it’s him showing his gratitude.”
The Watford ace insists his outlook wouldn’t change even if he earned £300m a fight, and that’s something his first boxing coach and close friend, Sean Murphy of Finchley Amateur Boxing Club, agrees with.
Homes for his mum and his son
Joshua is very close to his mum, social worker Yeta Odusanya, often posting gushing tributes to her on social media.
Although he’s rented a lavish £20,000-a-week mansion in the past, he did live with her in a two-bed ex-council estate in Golders Green, North London, even as he became a global superstar.
The boxer bought the property for his mum for £175,000 after his Olympic heroics in 2013.
“We’re back together. It’s great,” the 6ft 6ins champ said of living with his mum again at the time.
Now he lives with his mum and his son a massive property in North London.
Joshua recently spoke of being with his family in lockdown.
“I have no gym or swimming pool in my house,” he told DAZN.
“I am actually at my family home with my Mum, my niece, my son and my cousin, we are all quarantining together so it’s nice.
“We are all aware there is a pandemic happening across the world but fortunately none of my family have had any tragic losses or massive effects from the virus.
“We are trying to take advantage of spending time together.”
He credits Yeta for his success, after she got him on the straight and narrow following a rebellious period in his youth.
His parents split when he was 12 but he’s still close to his dad, Robert, too.
Sean, who Joshua still visits every week, explains: “He’s got a little boy [JJ, three] and his mum looks after the little one when he’s away, so they spend a lot of time together when he’s home.
“They’re very close.
“Josh is a down-to-earth, nice person and that’s down to his mum and dad who have taught him right from wrong and made him very respectful.”
AJ also bought a £500,000 penthouse in Finchley, North London, for his ex-girlfriend and JJ’s mum, Nicole Osbourne, despite them splitting.
Luxury holidays and shopping sprees for his team
AJ has a huge entourage to help him stick to his packed schedule.
And he rewards their efforts with luxury holidays, nights out, shopping sprees and flights by private jets.
“He’s got a good crew around him and most of them are his personal friends from way back – people he can trust,” says Sean.
“They’ve all been away with him on holidays. They went to Vegas for a week and went shopping, and I hear they were all looked after very well.”
Those in his inner circle include school friends and family members, such as his cousin Ben.
The crew have been lucky enough to fly on a private jet loaned to Joshua by US brand Under Armour, which sponsors him.
Sean tells us that, even though he coached Joshua over 10 years ago he, too, has been treated to a free holiday.
“He came in the gym and said, ‘Are you coming to New York? I’ve sorted it all out – you’ll come out three days before and three days after the fight and have it as a holiday,'” he says.
“He’s sorted out me, my wife and the other coaches at my gym.”
BMW and Jaguar cars for his coach
Joshua has a fleet of cars himself – but hasn’t had to pay a penny for them as they’re gifted by his sponsors, Jaguar Land Rover.
But he does buy them out of his own pocket for his nearest and dearest.
He famously surprised Sean with a £95,000 BMW in 2017 – with Sean initially finding it hard to drive because it was so high tech.
“I’m a builder by trade and used to vans and pick-up trucks so this is like a Rolls-Royce to me,” Sean laughs. “I couldn’t even start it when I got in it because it’s keyless. He was just laughing at me struggling!”
Joshua previously explained why it was so important to him to show Sean his gratitude.
“It was at my first boxing club where I learned discipline,” he said.
“How to forget your ego and listen to instructions if you want to achieve things.
“Sean would say, ‘Shut up, get on the bags, stop talking.’ He told me to stay focused.
“These guys will always have their door open for me, no matter what. I’ll never forget who has been there when no one was.”
Through his Jaguar sponsorship, he also treated his mum to a new Range Rover.
AJ said: “I feel I’ve never had the time to focus on helping her, so when her car broke down, I was just like it’s that time – if I’m going to do anything I’ll sort her out with a nice car, and so I got that as a present.”
He replies to his own fan mail
Sean insists that his boxing club is built on teamwork, and Joshua agrees.
That’s why he still visits every week, and he’s gone above and beyond when people there have needed it.
Sean says: “I’ve got another coach who was very ill and he paid for him to go to Harley Street to see a specialist, which really helped.
“Another coach has a bad rotator cuff, so he sent him to his physio.
“He’s always asking, ‘Do you want anything?’ Him and his cousin Ben have sorted us with new top class punch bags and other equipment.
“We get lots of letters come here for him and he picks them up, takes them home to read them and reply to them personally.”
An inspirational figure
A lot of the kids at the gym look up to Joshua, but he urges them to continue with school and stay on the straight and narrow.
He gives them incentives to listen to him too.
“One of the boys was struggling at school, he wasn’t getting on there, so Josh took him aside and said ‘I’ve signed you a glove, if you pass your GCSEs you can get the glove,'” Sean says.
“The boy was on the floor crying.
“Another boxing coach messaged me and said his little nephew had cancer, so I got to the gym and said to Josh about it and straight away, he signed a hat and sent that to him and made a video for the little boy. It was such a nice touch, and it give the little boy a big lift.”
He rewards the young boxers’ good behaviour with tickets to his fights – and even bought a minibus for them to travel in.
Sean says: “He took all the seats out and recovered them with leather, and fitted it with a TV and a play station for them.
“For his Klitschko fight, he gave us as a club 40 tickets, which we distributed to the kids who had worked hard.
“All the kids were up in the Royal Box. They were so chuffed, it was a great day out.”
It seems Joshua’s past could be why he’s so keen to help the kids.
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He got into trouble with police as a teenager, spending two weeks on remand in Reading prison after being found in possession of cannabis.
At 18 he found boxing and it became a way out for him.
“I get all sorts of kids in the gym, some are fighting and getting into trouble but I never had that with Josh,” Sean says fondly of his protégé.
“He always got on with everyone and was down to earth, he went off the rails as a teenager, which a lot of kids do, but that’s just growing up and he was never disrespectful.”
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