The world heavyweight champion has miraculously turned his life around after being arrested by the police once when he was younger.

When AJ was younger, cops found cannabis in his car and he was sent on remand for two weeks in Reading prison.

However, AJ’s driver to and from his training camp in Sheffield, David Ghansa, an old school friend, is now an important member of Team Joshua and tells our man David Anderson how the sweet science kept him on the straight and narrow.

Ghansa, who won an Olympic gold medal in London 2012 and is currently the undisputed heavyweight world champion, exemplifies how AJ changed his life:

David Ghansa shares a joke with Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn.

How did you come to meet Anthony?

“We have known each other since we were 15 or 16 years old. We hung about the same areas. He moved to where my mum lived.

“We were neighbours once he came to London, we played in the same football team. We had the same group of friends.”

“He had a bit about him – tall, fast, strong. You can imagine what it is like when you are younger. He has all the attributes a Sunday League manager would want.

“When he was younger he was a forward that scored loads of goals, when he came down to London they went ‘defender’ because of his size. He’d still run the pitch and try to score goals.”

Did you know he was getting involved in boxing?

“What is funny is that I knew his cousin Ben through some of my other mates and I grew up on the same estate as Dereck Chisora.

“When Dereck was boxing before Anthony he took me and a few of the boys down to Finchley ABC and at home I’ve still got my registration card.

“I had a little go at it but it wasn’t for me. I went straight back to football. He told us when he was starting and started getting good at it. It was interesting to see and hear from a distance how well it was going.”

Kept him out of the trouble he was getting in?

“Yeah. You know what it was? When you are young there is a certain age when people start clubbing, drinking, smoking and what not.

“I think boxing is one of those you can’t hide in. Your fitness reflects from everything you do outside of the ring. He found out quite early that life outside being one of the lads going out drinking and smoking and whatever had to stop if he wanted to excel in boxing.

“I think that is the main thing – the discipline. Our group of friends, James was aprofessional footballer at the time at AFC Wimbledon, he was very regimented, go home watch Match of the Day and there were a few of us like that. Everyone wanted to play some sort of sport.

“He was around like minded people who wanted to do the same thing. Boxing is a one man sport and you get found out if you’re slacking. His discipline has been incredible since then.

“It took him away from a complete dark path he could have walked down. You never know what is round the corner from that kind of area he could have been in.”

Still shocked at his rise?

“It’s unbelievable as someone who has watched boxing from an early age that these two would still be in the same era. When you look at how his journey has gone he has had to fast track everything. He had to rise to every occasion that has been thrown in front of him.

“He fights for the British title then there is an opportunity to fight for the world title and he hasn’t even defended the British title yet. He has steppedup and rose to the occasion.

“Someone who you would have thought would be retired by now is still around, is a seasoned vet and now they are about to get in the ring together.

“You can’t write that, you can’t picture it. Imagine a footballer who is in an academy at 12 and the person he looks up to his still playing… the story is not there a lot but it is here now. It’s crazy to see.”

Has he changed any way with the fame and money?

“I get asked this a lot. I’ve always answered it that ‘he’s not changed, he’s the same person’ but when I look at it from a different angle he’s evolved as a person.

“He has got a lot more patience in the things he does. It hasn’t changed him in a negative way. HE’s become more educated and evolved as a person. His character and banter is still the same.

“He has the loudest laugh in the room. All of that has stayed the same. He eats the same type of food at home, treats his mum the same, nothing has changed on that front. He’s moving levels in life and change will come with those situations.”

What do you do for him apart from being a friend?

“I’ve now come on board as part of the training camp. His coach calls me the camp manager, he calls me the operations manager. I’m literally up in camp with him every single day of the week.

“I help him with his day to day business outside of boxing and training, I look after the sparring partners up here. All sorts of things. I’m the voice between him and the rest of the team like Freddie (Cunningham) to let them know how everything is going up here. That’s nice. We are friends who also work together.”

“Nah. No way! The funniest thing is that somebody introduced me the other day ‘that’s David he works for Anthony’ and Anthony was like ‘no, he works with me, that’s my mate who is around me’. That’s nice to hear. It’s a good thing that we have got going on.”