Anthony Joshua has been accused of engaging in “reckless and stupid” behaviour, after he shared a video of himself climbing along the edge of a moving golf cart, eight months after he survived a fatal car crash.
In December, 10 days after Joshua stopped YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, the British heavyweight was a passenger in an accident in Nigeria, which claimed the lives of two of his teammates: Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.
Many fans were therefore surprised when Joshua, 36, shared a video on his Instagram story on Tuesday, which showed the former world champion shuffling along the edge of a golf cart, which appeared to be driven by a friend as another filmed from a different cart.
There was a second passenger in Joshua’s vehicle, and two passengers in the other.
“Losers do 100 press ups,” was Joshua’s caption in the initial clip, while another video showed the carts driving right next to each other, with “AJ” grabbing at the second vehicle.
It is unclear where exactly the carts were being driven, although they appeared to be on a kind of public road. Joshua has been holidaying in the Dominican Republic.
Now, former world champion Johnny Nelson has hit out at Joshua for his behaviour, telling Boxing King Media: “I saw it, and I put my head in my hands. I thought, ‘What are you thinking? What are you doing, man?’
“I know you’re young, I know you wanna live life, but to understand what’s just happened to you… As a parent, I’d think… You know, I cussed out my daughter; she was in Bali, on the back of a motorbike without a helmet on. I cussed out my daughter. And it reminded me of what happened with AJ over the Christmas period.
“Then I see AJ doing this. I’m like: ‘You’re not thinking. What is wrong with you?’ And regardless of how much you try and play it off – thinking, ‘S***, I probably shouldn’t have posted that’ – you shouldn’t have been doing that thing.
“It looked dangerous, it looked reckless. And people have looked [in recent months] and thought: ‘You know what, this guy must have been going through it.’ Now people are thinking: ‘You’re an idiot.’ And he’s gotta think: ‘Maybe I’ve gotta fall on my sword here. It’s a stupid thing I did.’
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“Post it or not, it was just a stupid thing to do. It had danger written all over it, you can see the worst-case scenario. When I saw it, I thought like a parent; I thought: ‘I hope your old man has a word with you, I hope your mum cusses you out. I just hope they have a strong word with you, because that was reckless, irresponsible and dangerous.’
“After everything that’s happened, to do something like that, it begs belief.”
At the time of writing, 18 hours after the videos were initially posted, they remain on Joshua’s story, leading Nelson to say: “I’m quite sure they’ve gotta do some damage limitation on this situation here, but you can’t get p***ed off with people being negative about posting something like that. You’ve got people’s pity, you’ve got people’s understanding […] and then you do something like that.”
Joshua is contracted to face compatriot Tyson Fury in a long-awaited super-fight later this year, with New York City’s Madison Square Garden the frontrunner to host the bout.
Reports suggest that 20 November is the likeliest date, after an attempt to secure Wembley Stadium apparently failed when Saudi matchmaker Turki Alalshikh pushed for 2am ring walks in London.
