Video of champion boxer calling it quits after car crash in Nigeria is AI-generated
- Published on January 22, 2026 at 10:19
- 5 min read
- By Oluseyi AWOJULUGBE, AFP Nigeria
Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua was involved in an accident while visiting Nigeria in December 2025. Days later, a video shared on Instagram claimed to show Joshua announcing his retirement, citing heartbreak over the death of his friends in the accident. However, the audio was replaced using an AI-generated program; the original footage is from a press conference after Joshua suffered a defeat in 2022.
“So said he had to end this Journey like this I blame that Driver he lost focus and see how he wastes innocent lives RIP to the dead your memories and legacy lives on (sic),” reads the caption of a video shared on Instagram on January 2, 2026.
The video begins with Joshua addressing an audience.
“I have decided to formally retire from the boxing world,” Joshua appears to say. “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,” the audio continues as the clip cuts to footage of Joshua breaking down.
“To be honest, I would rather it had been me who died instead of them,” the voice continues, while acknowledging the contributions the boxer’s friends made to his career.
The clip ends with Joshua saying that “they have left this world because of me”, after which he seemingly promises to take care of the funeral expenses and his friends' families.
The video was also shared on Facebook.
British-Nigerian boxer Joshua and two of his friends, Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami, were involved in a fatal accident on a busy highway linking Lagos and Ibadan in southwest Nigeria on December 29, 2025, when the Lexus SUV in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary truck (archived here).
Ayodele and Ghami died at the scene, while Joshua and the driver, who was later arrested, escaped with minor injuries.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, said the boxer would take time to heal before returning to the ring (archived here).
However, the clip does not show Joshua announcing his retirement following the car crash.
Manipulated video
AFP Fact Check found no credible media reports of Joshua holding a press conference after the crash.
Instead, his only public statement on the matter was issued via his Instagram account on January 8, 2026, where he paid tribute to his friends (archived here).
“Thank you for all the love and care you have shown my brothers…100% it’s tough for me, but I know it’s even tougher for their parents,” he wrote.
Google reverse image searches, however, led to an earlier version of the video published on X on January 1, 2026, and reposted more than 950 times.
“Anthony Jushua finally decided to retire from Boxing due to th3 recent acc¡d£nt that happened and took two of his best friends at the spot. This is really a hard time for him and the families affected (sic),” it reads.
The account that shared the clip admitted that it was AI-generated in a subsequent post, saying: "Hitting 1M in a few seconds, AI is winning."
Further searches led to the original video published on YouTube in August 2022 by sports news channel Boxing Social, after Joshua lost a fight against his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksandr Usyk (archived here).
“DISTRAUGHT ANTHONY JOSHUA BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS AFTER SECOND DEFEAT TO OLEKSANDR USYK,” the video’s title reads.
Contrary to the claim, the boxer was, at the time, speaking about his bout with Usyk, as well as his outburst in the ring after the contest.
“It’s really hard for me to say I’m proud of myself. I don’t feel anything. I’m upset deep down in my heart,” he says at 1’36’’, after which he is visibly overcome with emotion.
A comparison shows that Joshua's mannerisms in the original video and the altered version match, as does his clothing.
Notably, Joshua’s voice sounds robotic, and the audio’s pacing is unnatural -- common telltale signs of AI-generated content.
We analysed the Instagram clip's audio using the Hiya voice cloning detection tool, which suggested a 92 percent probability that the audio was AI-generated.
Since the incident, Joshua has resumed training and was recently photographed alongside his promoter at the gym (archived here).
AFP Fact Check has previously debunked other deepfakes linked to various celebrities and public figures.
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