By Peter Akinbo
Former world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, is making waves once again due to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, which sees the British-Nigerian’s net worth estimated at £175m, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
After bouncing back from consecutive defeats by Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua’s recent hot streak includes four straight victories, with his latest win being a knockout blow to ex-UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Since his stunning Olympic gold medal win at London 2012 catapulted him to fame, Joshua has been climbing the boxing ladder with gusto. But it’s a throwback interview with GQ in April 2017 that really shows the heights he aimed for.
At the time, Joshua was gearing up for his bout with Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium, which he won by KO. Chatting to GQ, Joshua revealed his financial dreams, saying initially he just wanted to be rolling in millions. But as times changed, so did his goals.
“When I first started, the aim was to become a multimillionaire. But now there are ordinary people, grandmas and granddads, who are worth millions just because of property prices,” he explained.
“So the new school of thought is that I need to be a billionaire. Being a millionaire is good, but you have to set your sights higher.”
Joshua has set his sights sky-high, revealing his financial goals saying, “If I’m making £10 million from my next fight, my next target has to be making ten times that. And if I get to £100m-150m, why not go for the billion? I know self-made billionaires. It’s hard, but it’s possible.”
The boxing star bagged a whopping £66m, his highest purse to date, when he snatched back his WBA, WBO, IBO, and IBF world titles from Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019. Reports claim he then bagged £31million in his March clash with Ngannou.
Joshua has undeniably boosted his wealth recently, with Forbes estimating his 2020 earnings at a cool $47million. However, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, Joshua’s net worth now stands at a hefty £175m, an impressive figure, albeit short of his ultimate goal.
Joshua has always been open about his drive to earn big, telling Yahoo Sports in February 2023 that a big motivation for him is, “Money, money, money. I like making money, straight up. I’ve been broke, my family’s been broke, I know what this sh*t means.
“I always built businesses outside of boxing, out of fear of going back to square one, but when I’m said and done, no one will care about me anymore, so I’ll make the most of it while I’m here.”
Peter Akinbo
Peter, who has been covering sports for PUNCH for close to two years, focuses on combat sports reporting, special features and human angle stories "(Punch)
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