Anthony Joshua, the champion boxer who just fought streamer Jake Paul, has survived a car crash in Nigeria that left two others dead, local authorities revealed Monday, Dec. 29.
Nigerian police and the country’s Federal Road Safety Corps confirmed the details, saying the accident occurred when a black Lexus crashed into a stationary truck around noon local time on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Makun, Ogun State. Joshua, who was in the Lexus, reportedly sustained “minor injuries” and was “receiving medical attention,” the police said.
Authorities added that two other passengers in the car “lost their lives at the scene,” and had been transported to a morgue. Two other people were involved in the crash, but were unharmed.
Circumstances surrounding the crash are still being investigated, but the FRSC said it believed the Lexus was “traveling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit” and “lost control” while trying to overtake another vehicle. It then “crashed into a stationary truck well packed by the side of the road.”
The “primary causes” of the crash are currently listed as “excessive speed and wrongful overtaking,” which the FRSC said “constitute serious traffic violations and remain among the leading causes of fatal road crashes on Nigerian highways.”Reps for Joshua did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Joshua, 36, rose to prominence at the 2012 Olympics, where he took home gold in the super-heavyweight boxing competition while representing Great Britain. He was twice the unified world heavyweight champion, holding the belt first in 2018 and 2019, and then 2019 until 2021. Most recently, on Dec. 20, he knocked out Paul in a bout broadcast on Netflix as Jake Vs. Joshua: Judgment Day.
