Anthony Joshua says he is hoping to leave a humanitarian legacy after retiring from boxing

WORLD heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua has revealed that he plans to do a lot more for humanity after ending his fighting career as being one of the best boxers in the world alone will not make him be remembered forever.

This Saturday, Joshua, 32, faces Bulgarian Kubrav Pulev at the SSE Arena in London where he will defend the World Boxing Organisation (WBO), World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organisation (IBO) belts. However, Joshua pointed out that even after retiring from the ring, he wants to do a lot of humanitarian work afterwards.

Joshua said: “No one in this room will remember certain athletes from years ago. Time doesn’t stop, so I’ll only be remembered after boxing even if I was one of the all-time greats, for about 100 years maximum.”

He added that he was looking at building a school or a gym where great boxers would be developed. In the past, Joshua has visited Nigeria where he has interacted with the youth as part of a reach out programme in the city of Lagos and his hometown of Sagamu in Ogun State.

“Time goes, so I’m not trying to put myself in people’s mindsets just for sport. I think long-lasting change that can change a whole community. Education, maybe build a school as once you put those bricks into the ground and you build all that, that won’t go anywhere for hundreds of years. That’s legacy. Maybe build a gym.

"Like look at Finch ABC. It’s turned out Mason, Chisora, Me, Shaun, Benga, Sam, Patrick – great people that have come out of that gym. So, you know boxing gyms continuously turn over great people and that’s like legacy.

"So, it’s not just based around me is what I’m trying to say. If I can do something that helps a community, I think that’s a bigger legacy than just focusing on me,” Joshua added.