Promoter has praised former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua for showing “incredible strength” after the tragedy he survived in December.
Joshua was travelling in a car that was involved in a fatal accident, claiming the lives of two of the Londoner’s closest friends, Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele.
Joshua was injured and his future in the ring looked undecided, but he has since announced he will return to the ring on July 25 to face Kristian Prenga, in the hope of then finally getting in the ring with Tyson Fury and then – should he win – challenging again for world honours.
Hearn has been by Joshua’s side since he turned professional after claiming gold at the London 2012 Olympics.
Asked by BoxingScene whether he had noticed changes in his friend as he heads into what is surely the final phase of the 36-year-old’s professional career, Hearn said: “I think it would be very difficult… I mean, ‘Josh’ is quite a private guy, to be honest with you. We’re close, but I don’t see anybody ever having that kind of conversation with him because he’s a very proud man. Sometimes that can be, you know, not the right thing to do [bottling up emotions]. But ‘Josh’ is the kind of guy where I know when we talk about men’s mental health and stuff like this, people won’t be necessarily an advocate of this strategy, I’m actually an advocate of this strategy in that I’m the same, where it’s like, ‘this is my fight, right? I can control it.’ You know, ‘it’s on me.’
“And I know it’s good to talk and all that kind of stuff. But Anthony’s just not like that. He’s strong enough to deal with this kind of stuff and he takes that on board that it’s his battle. Does that make sense? So he’s not the kind of guy where I would sit down with, [and] I’ll say to him, ‘You alright? Everything good?’ But he’s not, I think, one of those people that we’d have a half an hour talk about his struggles and all that kind of stuff. It’s a struggle. Life is a struggle. What he went through is an incredible struggle of grief. But he also is the kind of guy where it’s like, ‘I’ve got this.’ ‘I will deal with this myself.’ And I think there has been a huge amount of grief and a huge amount of struggle.
“And I think the strength that he’s shown is incredible to come through the physical injuries, the emotional injuries, the grief. The way that he’s supporting the families [of his two friends] and putting that at the forefront of everything that he does. And in the meantime, changing camps and getting ready for the biggest moment of his career.
“Unbelievable individual and a very strong man.”
Joshua is now 29-4 (26 KOs) and last boxed when he broke Jake Paul’s jaw and stopped his overmatched foe in six rounds in Miami in December.
And Hearn is optimistic that the former champion’s best days might still lie ahead of him.
“I actually do,” Hearn said. “I can’t tell you if he was a better fighter three years ago than he is now. I don’t think he was because of the experience that he has now. But what I can tell you is right now, physically, the camp, the conditioning, the clearness of his mind, he’s in a better place than he’s ever been. I do also acknowledge he’s coming to the back-end of his career. So he’s not 26, 27, but he’s still got the physicality. He’s fitter than ever. He understands the sport better than ever. I think his set up and his team may be better than ever. So we shall see.”
