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Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has suffered “minor injuries” in a fatal car accident that killed two people, Nigerian police said.

Pictures circulating online showed a shirtless Joshua – a British national of Nigerian heritage – surrounded by what appeared to be broken window glass on the seats around him.

The circumstances around the wreck are “currently being investigated”, said police in Ogun state, just north of Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos, which throngs with visitors from across the country and diaspora each December.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Daily Mail Sport he was on a family holiday and “awoke to the news of this incident”.

“We are trying to contact Anthony and in the meantime we don’t want to speculate on how he is but thankfully he appears OK from what I have seen in the images,” he said.

Police said the wreck, in which two people in Joshua’s car were killed, occurred around 11am on Monday (local time), in the town of Makun, along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway.

A shirtless Anthony Joshua could be seen grimacing in pain after the crash. Photo / X

Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said that the Lexus Joshua was riding in “was suspected to be travelling beyond the legally prescribed speed limit on the corridor, lost control during an overtaking manoeuvre and crashed into a stationary truck... by the side of the road”.

However, a witness who gave his name as Kunle told AFP: “The truck was not stationary when the accident happened.”

“People rushed to help without even knowing those inside the car,” the 27-year-old said. “It was when we got there we realised it was Anthony Joshua that’s inside.”

The FRSC said that Joshua’s car was towed to the police station in nearby Sagamu.

Joshua’s family hails from the southwest Nigerian city and he is known to visit there when he’s in the country.

Photos released by the FRSC showed a totalled black SUV, and what appeared to be blood on the road.

Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has been injured in a highway accident in Nigeria in which two people died. Photo / Giorgio Viera, AFP

An AFP reporter on the scene Monday evening saw the 18-wheeler truck that Joshua’s car was said to have hit being towed off the highway.

‘More important than boxing’

Police said two people “lost their lives at the scene”.

The names of the victims have not been released but a spokesman for the Ogun state governor said preliminary reports indicated they were “two male foreign nationals”.

Police said the crash occurred in the town of Makun, along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway. Photo / X

Sharing a photo of himself with Joshua on social media, President Bola Tinubu wrote: “As a sportsman, you have always shown courage, discipline, and unwavering love for our country.”

Earlier this month Joshua knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a Netflix-backed bout in Miami.

“Life is much more important than boxing. I am praying for the lost lives, AJ and anyone impacted by today’s unfortunate accident,” Paul said Monday on X.

The former Olympic champion Joshua has since been linked with a fight against compatriot and fellow former world champion Tyson Fury.

Joshua’s last fight before the match with Paul was a fifth round knockout loss to fellow Briton Daniel Dubois in September last year.

- Agence France-Presse