BRITISH BOXING hero Anthony Joshua saw his fortune hit almost £100 million after a boost of £10m despite the pandemic, official figures reveal.
Reserves in the star’s business Sparta Promotions hit £98m even though he had just one fight.
Joshua turned his back on a life of crime to carve out a career as one of Britain’s most successful ever boxers.
The 32-year-old former world champion, who delved deep into his pockets to help keep amareur boxing afloat during the coronavirus crisis, remains fiercely ambitious and wants to become a billionaire.
He said in one interview: “When I first started, the aim was to become a multi-millionaire. But now there are ordinary people, grandmas and grandads, who are worth millions just because of property prices.
“So the new school of thought is that I need to be a billionaire. Being a millionaire is good but you have to set your sights higher.”
But it is not only himself he hopes to help with his cash – the fighter has raised money for numerous charities such as Key4Life, Forever Hope and Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital among others.
AJ also likes the jet-set lifestyle and meeting fans around the world, recently spending time training in America searching for a coach, as well assembling a brilliant car collection.
The Watford-born boxer paid himself a dividend of £3.166m after the company made £15.6m between March 2020 and the end of February this year.
After paying a £2.3m corporation tax bill and other creditors he was left with a profit of £9.7m for the year.
Because of the pandemic Joshua fought just one bout against Kubrat Pulev in December 2020 in front of a crowd of just 1,000 at the O2 Arena in south east London.
Accounts show the bout made £7.2m compared to his fight income of £57.4m the previous year.
But his sponsorship income rose from £2.25m to £3.5m over the year.
The report said: “The bouts divisions declined due to the restrictions of Covid-19, which is in line with the directors expectations.
“The sponsorship and endorsements division turnover has increased by 28 per cent from 2020 to 2021.”
He has sponsorship deals with Lucozade, Under Armour and Beats by Dre.
The accounts also said that the pandemic had impacted Joshua’s ability to ‘train and fight’.
But the report said that the company was also looking to improve the figures for next year, saying: “The group is currently undertaking research and development to improve its bout income and sponsorship income from the provision of the fighter’s professional boxing services and image rights.”
Joshua was being lined up for a potentially lucrative heavyweight world championship bout with Tyson Fury, but those plans hit problems earlier this year when he lost to Oleksander Uysk.
He is now hoping to reclaim the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles when he rematches the Ukrainian next year.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
