Mum should be proud...she made me a warrior

Joshua's mother helped him steer away from a life of crime

- JAMES DESBOROUGH

BOXING star Anthony Joshua has hailed his mum for helping him turn his life around when it looked like a fight that was going to be lost.

Joshua almost got dragged into a life of crime in his younger days.

But his mum Yeta Odusanya encouraged him to take boxing seriously as it was starting to transform his life.

And he went from youth offender to Olympic gold medallist in a few years.

Joshua said: "She said, 'I can see it was changing your life for the better. It wasn't about the career, it was about the decisions that you were making were better for you because of boxing.

"I told her once, 'You should be proud of yourself, you gave birth to a warrior".

The star, who fights fellow Brit Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight world title at Wembley Stadium tonight, said of his mum: "She is the most significant person in my life."