Nigerian-British boxing superstar Anthony Joshua is leaving the UK to move to Dubai – even though the desert city is now in a warzone with thousands of Britons desperate to get out.

The former heavyweight world champion, 36, has formally confirmed he will now be resident in the United Arab Emirates despite it currently coming under nightly attack from Iranian suicide drones, reports Daily Mail online of UK.

Joshua, who was born in Watford of Nigerian heritage, won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and has since been awarded both OBE and MBE honours – but now is quitting his home country.

The surprise move by ‘AJ’ – as he is known to fans – is revealed in the small print of paperwork he filed on Friday for his £150 million business empire in which he is legally required to state which country he lives in.

And extraordinarily the documentation shows that Joshua has pressed ahead with his decision to change his residential status despite the war between the USA and Israel and Iran which has seen neighbouring UAE come under sustained attack.

As well as the weather and facilities, Dubai is popular with the wealthy because there is no income tax there.

Joshua would have been liable to pay UK tax on his dividend payment of £10.1 million in 2024 and £6.3 million in 2023.

His company Sparta Promotions also made profits of £20.396 million and paid £6.65 million in UK tax in 2024.

Joshua confirmed the decision in the same week that recent UK sport emigre Rio Ferdinand and his wife Kate spoke about what it’s like to live in Dubai while it’s under missile attack.

Those attacks have seen thousands of Britons living or simply visiting Dubai when the war broke out left desperate to get out – with some paying as much as £100,000 to secure private jet evacuation.

Filings for two of Joshua’s companies, Sparta Promotions Limited and 258 Investments Limited, both show the formal change in where he will from now on reside.

Joshua has long been a regular visitor to Dubai where he uses the renowned sporting facilities for training, but also promo work for brands he represents and holidays.

The most spectacular stunt in this vein came in 2017 when he undertook a training sparring session on the helipad of the famous sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel – a 90 foot wide landing platform suspended 700 feet above the sea.

He visited the city late last year, dining out with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, and again last month when he had training sessions with MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The striking decision to shift base to Dubai follows the tragic road accident in Nigeria last year in which claimed the lives of two close friends, personal trainer Kevin ‘Latz’ Ayodele and long-time therapist Sina Ghami.

Joshua has been in recovery ever since the ordeal and recently posted pictures of rehab work on his ribs via Snapchat.

He captioned the post: ‘Rehabilitation protocol. When you go thru certain things, you realise that you are stronger than you think you are.’

The move makes Joshua the latest high-profile wealthy Briton to be based overseas following the likes of Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou: who both live in Monaco, and Pimlico Plumbers tycoon Charlie Mullins who is in Marbella.

The rules on tax for those with ex-pat status are complex.

If individuals spend 183 days or more in the UK they are considered a UK tax resident, but if it is fewer than 16 days they would not be considered resident and eligible for taxes.

For in-between cases, HMRC officials have a complex ‘Statutory Residence Test’ to determine whether UK tax has to be paid, weighing factors like how much time is spent in each place and how established their ties are in both countries.

So, to maximise any tax saving Joshua could be forced to spend barely two weeks a year in the UK.

In December it was revealed that ‘AJ’ had spent £1.2 million to secure a 15,300 sq ft penthouse, the Sky Palace, in the new Park Lane 101 development in Sultan Haitham City, in Oman, which is 300 miles away.

But it’s thought the apartment is an investment property and it’s not clear if he has yet settled on a permanent base in Dubai.

There has been speculation that the attacks on Dubai could see property prices there fall by as much as 20%.

_ Dailymail.co.uk