Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
AJ: £100m superstar
Fights, sponsorship and endorsements make boxer Anthony Joshua a heavyweight earner
HEAVYWEIGHT champ Anthony Joshua has become Britain’s first £100million boxer – but he’s only just getting started.
Joshua’s company Sparta Promotions has posted massive profits over the past 12 months thanks to his success in the ring.
And the 31-year-old has set his sights on becoming the sport’s first billionaire.
The Watford-born fighter’s business assets have grown by over £60m and stand at £109m.
He could double that by pocketing an expected £100m if he fights Tyson Fury in a massive unification bout later this year.
His nearest competitor in the British boxing wealth stakes is ex-world heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis, who is said to be worth £90m.
Joshua currently holds three of the four major world heavyweight belts and is an icon to millions of fans. In a 2017 interview, he spoke of his dreams of becoming a billionaire.
“When I first started, the aim was to become a multi-millionaire,” he told GQ. “But now there are ordinary people, grandmas and granddads, worth millions just because of property prices.
“So the new school of thought is that I need to be a billionaire. You have to set your sights higher. If I get to £100m-150m, why not go for the billion? It’s hard, but it’s possible.” Sparta’s latest accounts show he banked £57.35m between February 2019 and 2020 from fights. Joshua also pocketed £6.55m from marketing, sponsorship and endorsements. The business turned over £63.9m for the year and made a gross profit of £57.9m.
During the accounting period Joshua suffered the first loss of his career to underdog Andy Ruiz Jr in New York but beat him in a rematch in Saudi Arabia in December 2019. Joshua and Fury are said to be close to finalising a deal for a mega-fight later this year, possibly in Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather is streets ahead of the pair when it comes to overall net worth. The flamboyant 43-year-old, nicknamed the Money Man, is believed to be worth around £435m. But with age on his side, Joshua could soon catch up. Here, we take a look at Joshua’s background, his celebrity friends and lucrative sponsorship deals.
COUNTRY music legend Johnny Cash has been spotted in a frozen Sligo waterfall.
While it’s not quite seeing Jesus Christ on a slice of toast, the likeness is easy to appreciate in this snap.
The picture of the Man In Black was shared to Facebook, where more than 100 people commented on the post on the Friends of Ireland of a Thousand Welcomes page. One said:
“Absolutely uncanny, that’s crazy.”
Another added: “Unbelievable, but yes I can.”
Yet another replied: “Definitely Johnny Cash, great spot.”
While one quipped: “How did he get there?”
Cash died in 2003 at the age of 71.
Throughout his lengthy career from 1954 to 2003, he released 91 albums and 170 singles on several record labels.
JACK Charlton’s son has rubbished claims the ex-irish manager and his brother Bobby had a feud and never made up before he died last year.
John Charlton told the makers of Finding Jack Charlton, which is due to be shown on Virgin Media One next month, it wasn’t true and asked for it to be removed.
Director Gabriel Clarke claimed in an interview last week that, despite appearances, Jack and Bobby hadn’t buried the hatchet.
But yesterday John set the record straight and told the Daily Mirror: “This has caused great anger and upset to us and Bobby’s family.
“Uncle Bob is ill at the moment and we don’t want the public to think something of both Jack and Bobby that is simply not true.
“My mother Pat is very annoyed about it. She was 86 last October. She and Bobby’s wife Norma speak to each other almost every other week. There is no issue.”
John said Jack and Bobby were just like any normal brothers and loved each, as well as their two other siblings Gordon and Tommy.
He added: “They were as different as chalk and cheese, dad liked going fishing with his mates, but Bobby wasn’t into fishing and did whatever he wanted with his friends. There is nothing wrong with that.
STROKE
“Yes, of course they had rows like any other brothers over different things but to say they stopped talking to each other was just not true.
“In the years before Jack’s death they often spoke on the phone over family matters or if someone was sick.
“A decade ago Dad took a minor stroke while we were on holidays at his holiday home outside Benidorm in Spain.
“He was taken to hospital for a couple of days but thankfully there was no damage. One of the first people to ring him was Uncle Bobby, to make sure he was alright.
“They also met at different football matches and functions. Every year they would go to the annual reunion for the World Cup winning 1966 team when they would talk, drink, have a meal and play golf.
“There was no feud between them. There was nothing to make up about. Any time they met they just spoke to each other and got on with it.”
The dispute was supposed to be over Bobby not going to see their mother Cissie before she died in 1996 and the media claimed it had carried on ever since.
But John said: “When Bobby was awarded a lifetime achievement
Any time that they met they just got on with it JOHN CHARLTON YESTERDAY
HAPPY TIMES Jack and Bobby Charlton
award at the BBC Sportstar of the Year Awards they got Jack to present it to him.
“If they were not talking there is no way dad would have done it, not a chance.
“Jack told Bobby that night in front of the whole country he was the best footballer he had ever seen in his life but even better still he was his brother.” Niall Quinn told how he brought Jack and Bobby together as part of England’s unsuccessful World Cup bid in October 2010 while he was running Sunderland.
One of Fifa’s top administrators in the US, the late Chuck Blazer, informed the English FA the two brothers were his idols and he wanted to meet them.
A special dinner was arranged prior to a match between Sunderland and Manchester Utd.
Niall recalled: “Jack and Bobby were in the best of form, chatting away and joking together and Chuck loved their company.
“There was no issue between them. They were doing their bit for England’s bid which sadly came to nothing and Qatar got it instead.”
The Charlton family gave the film crew unlimited access to Jack during the final months of his life as he bravely battled dementia.
John added: “Yes, it is a good documentary and the people of Ireland will love it because it concentrates so much on the 1988 Euros, Italia 90 and the World Cup in America in 1994. Those were great, happy times.
“I just don’t want people to get the wrong impression of the relationship between Bobby and Jack. There was no rift there or unfinished business when dad died.”
Last night in response to John Charlton’s concerns director Gabriel Clarke said: “We sensitively addressed the relationship between Bobby and Jack in our film with the support and approval of the Charlton family.
“We fully support the family in not wanting the public to get the wrong impression of Jack or Bobby.
“At no point did we say there was a feud between the brothers.”