BOXING CHAMP LUCKY TO BE

ALIVE AFTER NIGERIA SMASH

- BY DAN WARBURTON

INJURED Anthony Joshua was yesterday pulled from the wreckage of a horror crash that killed two of his closest friends.

The former boxing champ, 36, on holiday in Nigeria, was in the back of an SUV which hit a parked truck.

The British sporting superstar was pictured moments after emerging from the mangled shell of the Lexus.

His promoter Eddie Hearn said: "Anthony sustained serious injuries in the accident and is stable."

Ex-heavyweight champion Joshua is on holiday after knocking out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, 28, in a £70million bout on December 19.

Joshua, who has Nigerian heritage, came within inches of death in the back seat when the car crashed into a stationary truck, but was said to be in a "stable" condition.

The two men who died were named as Latif Ayodele and Sina Ghami.

Ghami was Joshua's longtime friend and strength and conditioning coach, while former non-league footballer Ayodele served as his personal trainer. Joshua posted a video four hours before the crash, showing him enjoying a game of table tennis with Ayodele. The caption read: "@healthy_mindset dishing out table tennis smoke."

Emergency workers raced to the scene near a petrol station in Makun on the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway shortly after 11am yesterday.

The 80-mile expressway is one of the country's deadliest routes, having claimed 73 lives in three months, and a total of 645 in the last 27 months.