The story of Anthony Joshua's rise from council estate to boxing world champion has been told over and over again - but much less is known about the heavyweight's private life.
Joshua will take on Oleksandr Usyk tonight in Saudi Arabia as he again walks to the ring with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders. Joshua's rise to this point has been nothing short of meteoric having shot to fame for his glory at the London 2012 Olympic Games before becoming two-time heavyweight world champion as a professional.
Despite being under scrutiny at all times for his exploits in the boxing ring, Joshua has largely kept his family and personal lives out of the spotlight. Although he claims to have little time to date alongside his career in the sport, the British star has had one known high-profile relationship with ex Nicole Walker.
Joshua was with the dancer for several years and even bought her a £500,000 luxury penthouse, with Walker also the mother to Joshua's child JJ. 'AJ' has rarely put the pair in the spotlight, but has recently been sharing more and more images with his son on social media.
And appearing on the Jonathan Ross show earlier this year, Joshua revealed he wants to add to his brood. "I want to have loads [of children]," he said. "Someone said to me, which makes sense, when you’re young, you don’t want to have kids, but when you’re older and settled down and retired you wish that you had more kids around you, so I’m just looking ahead – loads for me is probably another six."
In terms of a new relationship, the British star is currently single and has not indicated he has met anyone since splitting with his son's mother Walker. The heavyweight star has been naturally linked to a whole host of high-profile love interests including Rita Ora, Bella Hadid and Cara Delavigne.
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With the hard work and dedication required to training and fighting in the ring, Joshua has admitted he is unable to think about holding down a relationship. "I think you can date and still be a successful sportsman but it’s hard to find a balance and I would have to compromise — which I’ve not felt able to do," he told The Sun.
"My dad never gave me advice about much. But in terms of relationships what I have learnt and what I tell my son is, it would be nice to find a high school sweetheart and to grow together because as you get older you get set in your ways.
"For me to have a relationship now means I would have to compromise and change my ways and I don’t know how easy that would be for me to do. So I do date but I don’t get to the stage where I actually put anyone into that position."
Most recently, Joshua rekindled rumours that he had found time in his diary for love, with fans claiming he had tied the knot after spotting the heavyweight star with what appeared to be a wedding band on the traditional ring finger. However he quickly played down the claims and revealed the object was actually a sleep tracker.
"I'm divorced," Joshua joked in an interview with Behind The Gloves. "I lost the wedding band - no, it's a sleep ring, it tracks your sleep. Don't worry girl, I'm not married - it's cool. That's the whole point of social media [to get people talking], but I am married to the game for life. It'll take a lot in a woman to lock me down."
