Entertainment

Anthony Joshua Narrates His Journey From Nigerian Boarding School To Jail

Published

4 years ago

June 11, 2021

Nigerian born-British boxer and WBO heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua has opened up about his life and the tough experiences he has been through.
He narrated his life in an interactive session with British Vogue as he explained how troubled he was as a teen and finding his saviour in boxing..

“I’ve always known Africa as the motherland. Like, out in the world is England, but in my house is Nigeria. My parents are still very attached to their roots,” he said.

“That’s where they were born, that’s where their friends are. They’ve always travelled backwards and forwards. When I was 11, my mum set up a business there and we went, too.”

“I spent about nine months in a boarding school,”

“You’re woken at five in the morning and if you don’t wake up, the teachers burst through the door. You go and fetch your water, shower, iron your clothes, and then school starts.”

Joshua returned to the UK after spending some brief time in Nigeria and he noted that his parents divorced after he moved back to the UK.

“I had left school, and I was a Jack the Lad, you know what I mean? My mum had moved to London. I didn’t want to leave Watford, so I was moving from one auntie’s house to another auntie’s house. Then I got my own little place when I was like 16, 17, and I stopped all sports and stuff like that,”

“That’s when I started, you know, smoking a bit, doing my own thing. And then I got banned from my area in Watford. I wasn’t allowed to go back. I was in jail for a little bit, and on tag for about 14 months.”

“Yeah. When I moved from Watford into London, I started chilling with my cousin, and he was boxing at the time. I was driving, so I’d take him to the gym,”

“I was doing weights, banging up my triceps. Then after a little while, my cousin gave me some shorts and boots and taught me how to wrap my hand. Then I discovered Mike Tyson.”

“I saw this kid who had been about 13-years-old getting into a whole heap of trouble, from a bad background, where you’re deemed the worst in society, who became one of the most praised champions that the world has ever seen, all through hard work and discipline. I felt like I could do the same thing. So I took boxing a little bit more seriously,”

“Where we grew up in Watford, it wasn’t about being rough – obviously you had to back yourself – but we were hustlers. So I took the hustler’s mindset from Watford and I just put it into boxing and navigated my way through with good manners. I walked into the gym still on tag – I had to rush out at 7:40 pm to be home by eight o’clock.

“Three years later I went to the Olympics and represented Great Britain and got a gold medal. It happened really quick. But it just showed real discipline. It’s fine to fail, but don’t get disheartened. Build, go again. That marathon mindset is what’s got me through my boxing days and that’s what I’m still using as motivation now.”