Joshua has previously said he is too busy to date but the former heavyweight world champion appears to have had a change of heart
Anthony Joshua plans to hit the dating scene as he waits for his next fight to be agreed.
Joshua has returned to training following his stunning second-round KO of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou last month. Joshua knocked the Cameroonian down twice before rendering him unconscious less than five minutes into the fight.
But Joshua, who has kept his love life private throughout his career, has admitted he will have time to wine and dine in his spare time. “I’ve got some time to go on dates now and mingle a little bit,” he will tell The Jonathan Ross Show this weekend. But when asked if he has time for dating, Joshua backtracked slightly, adding: “Yeah, definitely. I don’t know what I’m doing actually. Boxing is my priority.”
Joshua, who has an eight-year-old son with former girlfriend Nicole Osbourne, has been linked with a string of girls in the past, including models Cara Delevingne and Bella Hadid. Asked by BBC interviewer Louis Theroux last year if he had a girlfriend, Joshua said: “No, I don’t.” Pushed as to whether he would say if he did, the Londoner insisted: “Yeah, definitely. Imagine me going home to my missus now and she said, ‘You denied me!’. I don’t want the stress.” And asked specifically about Delevigne and Hadid, Joshua said: “I haven’t been with any of those girls by the way.”
Joshua still lives with his mum and said any future wife will be marrying into his family. “I still live with my mum. In our culture, we grew up in our own family home, we support our parents,” he said. “Why am I going to move out and leave my mum by herself, for some girl? Family is the most important thing. When a girl gets with me, she ain’t just marrying me, she’s marrying my family.”
Joshua, who is a two-time heavyweight world champion, expects to return to the ring in September when he will likely face the winner of Filip Hrgovic’s proposed fight with Daniel Dubois. A world title is likely to be on the line for that bout in June, meaning Joshua could become a three-time champion by the end of the year.
