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• Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua struggled to get out of bed following the car crash which killed two of his best friends.

Joshua cheated death in the smash which claimed the lives of Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele in Nigeria last Christmas. The heavyweight will return to the ring just seven months later when he takes on Kristian Prenga tonight. Joshua has prepared for his comeback alongside former undisputed world champion Oleksandr Usyk in Spain.

But the 36-year-old required exhaustive rehab to ensure he would be able to fight again. "What you didn't see is when he was trying to get out of bed and he couldn't move," said promoter Eddie Hearn. "Then he's sitting on a bike for two hours where he can't move his torso but he can move his legs.

"It was two or three months of doing that and that was when he was down. He couldn't box and he couldn't go into training camp, it was just rehab, bike, stretching, scans, physio. All of that was the most difficult time but when he got into camp, that was great."

Joshua's late friends were also part of his close-knit training team. And Hearn added: "You can show all this strength, you can train three times a day, but in those moments on your own, when you might be replaying the day... I can't even imagine how he feels. I can't even imagine how you draw the strength to get yourself physically ready and to overcome what's happened mentally

"Sina was there every second of every day and Joshua had to return to Dubai to the house where they all lived. He has shown unbelievable strength and I'm just pleased to see him back. Now I just want to see him do the hard work justice with a good performance."