British –Nigerian boxing Anthony Joshua, cannot forget the discipline and toughness he got from a boarding school in Nigeria. Joshua and his mother Yeta, were in Nigeria for six months when he was 11-year-old, before returning back to the UK.
The last time he visited Nigeria was 13 years ago and he is not sure whether he will have a boxing fight here.
Anthony said “I thought I was going there (Nigeria) on holiday…I wasn’t prepared for it. It was a boarding school as well. At the time you think ‘Why?’, but as you get older you think it was good that you experienced it. It was good for me. I think my mum was trying to do some business there; maybe she had it in her mind. You don’t just randomly decide to move there. She might have been thinking about it, but didn’t inform us because we were kids. We stayed out there, not long, only six months. It was a change and I thought I was going to go for the full course: 5.30am in the morning, up fetch your water, put like an iron in your water to warm it up. Your clothes had to be washed and ironed.”
He went on to say ‘It wasn’t an issue but I wasn’t prepared. It was a good discipline. We got beaten. That’s my culture: beating. The government raise your kids now; parents aren’t allowed to raise their kids, because there is so much control about what you do or what you say. In the (Nigerian) culture it’s family, outside support; everyone has a role in raising the kids.’
