Boxing heavyweight Anthony Joshua has vowed to hunt down thieves who nicked his £150,000 bespoke Range Rover.
The personalized luxury motor – embossed with AJ’s signature – was pinched just days before his world title fight against Alexander Povetkin.
Joshua defends his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight crowns against the Russian challenger, 39, at Wembley next Saturday.
AJ was training at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) in Sheffield, South Yorks., when it was nabbed from a relative’s home in London on Thursday.
Joshua parked the black motor – complete with a drawer for his world title belts – at the address whilst he headed north to make his final preparations for the bout.
His title belts are not believed to have been in the car at the time.
Last night, a spokesman for AJ said:
“A shared car was stolen from a relatives central London home in the early hours of the morning.
“This is now a police matter and no further information will be made available.”
A source said:
“AJ’s pretty annoyed about it because it’s so close to the fight. He doesn’t want any distractions at all.
“Thankfully no one was hurt when it was stolen. There were no aggravating features in it which is a massive blessing.
“But this is probably one of the last things he wanted before the fight.
“He’s concentrating on the fight at the moment and won’t let it distract him but once it’s over he will do whatever it takes to find it.”
Another source said:
“Unluckily for the people who took it, there’s a tracker in it so it probably will come back at some point.
“It’s probably going to haunt them. I think he’s just worried what state it will be in when it’s found.”
Cops reckon thieves targeted the Range Rover using a keyless device that mimics a car’s key fob to break in.
The £100 device can pick up the signal of the genuine fob and fool the car into thinking it’s being opened legitimately.
Once inside, the thieves can override the keyless start with a simple computer.
