Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua had escaped with minor injuries after
a car crash on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway that killed two of his friends and team members, according to Nigerian authorities. The accident had occurred around 11 a.m. in Ogun State, where Joshua had family ties, and police confirmed he sustained only minor bruises while the driver and another occupant were killed.
A video circulating online claims to show Anthony Joshua announcing his retirement, saying, “I have decided to formally retire from the boxing world. Thank you all for your continued support, but I truly cannot keep fighting with a broken heart.”
“My friends accompanied me to my hometown, yet they lost their lives there while I survived. The guilt and remorse are unbearable,”
“To be honest, I would rather it had been me who died instead of them, they have left this world because of me,”
Veridict
Through a reverse image search, JamiiCheck found that the
original video was published in August 2022 during a press conference after Anthony Joshua lost his fight to Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua appeared deeply emotional and unable to hold back his tears.
He was seated alongside his promoter, Eddie Hearn, in a press conference room behind the King Abdullah Sports City Media Centre, where they began answering questions as usual until Joshua was asked whether he was proud of his performance despite the defeat.
“Am I proud?” Joshua asked. “It’s hard to say if I’m proud of myself. I’m hurt. Deep down in my heart…”
Instead of continuing, he broke down. Overcome with emotion, he leaned forward, covered his eyes, and openly wept in front of the journalists.
In addition, an X (formerly Twitter) user by the name
𝓞𝓫𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓷𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓬𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮 admitted that he used artificial intelligence to create the video, which reached more than one million viewers.
Digital detection tools that identify AI-generated content indicated that the audio in the video was created using artificial intelligence.
