Anthony Joshua lost a big chunk of his earnings last year, which ended with the tragic death of two of his closest friends

Anthony Joshua has seen a big chunk of his earnings go to the UK taxman as he weighs up his boxing future. The former heavyweight champion fought just once last year, easily beating YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul by knockout in Florida in December.

Joshua's share of the purse was a colossal £68.5million, although he saw almost half of that swallowed up in tax, both in the United States and UK. Approximately £25.6m went to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax collector.

While Florida has no personal state income tax, he was still liable for US income tax at the highest rate as the fight took place on American soil. Meanwhile, a sum estimated to be in excess of £5.5m went to the UK taxman.

Over the last 12 months, Joshua, who has various lucrative endorsement deals, paid approximately £11m in UK tax, placing him 100th on the recently released Sunday Times UK Tax List.

It is unclear whether Joshua will increase his earnings by getting back in the ring, as he comes to terms with the devastating car crash that claimed the lives of two of his closest friends. Joshua was involved in a crash in Nigeria on December 29 that killed Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele.

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In his first public video since the incident,

Joshua fought back tears as he reflected on the loss of his two "brothers" and "lieutenants", who were key members of his inner circle.

He said: "I understand what they wanted to do for their families, so what my goal is, is to continue to help them achieve their goals.

"I know in my corner of the world, I know what I'll be doing. I know what we'll be doing to continue… I don’t want to say their legacy, because I had a lot of those questions about legacy during my fight in Miami.

"It ain't about legacy, it's just about doing what is right and I know I am going to do what is right by them. I know what I have got to do. I'm going to do what is right by them, do what is right by their family and it is about what is important."

Prior to the crash, Joshua had been planning to have a warm-up fight ahead of a long-awaited showdown against British rival Tyson Fury, who will face Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11.

His promoter Eddie Hearn believes he will make a comeback, but only "when the time is right." Hearn added that conversation would not be had anytime soon.

The Sunday Times Tax List featured two Premier League players in the top 100 - Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah. Haaland has paid a huge £17m in tax over the past 12 months, while Salah has contributed £14.5m to the public purse.