A former British boxing champion opened up on an act that proved Anthony Joshua is an incredibly classy operator.

Kevin Mitchell, who won the British super featherweight title and the Commonwealth title in his 12-year professional boxing career, tragically lost his younger brother, Vinny, in 2019.

Joshua phoned Mitchell and his grieving family to help in their hour of needGetty

Vinny, who was also a boxer, died aged 31 when his motorcycle collided with a tree.

The tragic loss left Mitchell and his family devastated but it also had a significant financial aspect on them, too.

With Mitchell retired as a boxer, the family was under serious financial pressure to foot the bill for the funeral as well as continue their mortgage payments.

But just one phone call later and one of those financial headaches had vanished thanks to Joshua’s incredible generosity.

In an interview with Josh Jamesy, Mitchell revealed Joshua’s heart-warming gesture.

“He had so much pressure on him and let me tell you something – I’ve not said this to anyone before on podcast – but he paid for my brother’s funeral,” Mitchell revealed.

Jamesy asked Mitchell if Joshua’s kind act was because he knew the brothers, the 39-year-old responded: “Both. He knew my brother, he knew me, he knew my mum.

“He rung me up when we as in the chapel of rest in Dagenham East and he said ‘Kev, how are you? You’re a strong b******, aren’t you.’

“I said, ‘You have to be, Josh – it’s life, mate’. Then he was like, ‘Is your mum there? Can I speak to her please?

“As we’re sitting around the table grieving – bad emotions and we’re all about to kick off – and we’re all worried about burying my brother, how will we get money, we got mortgages to pay, no-one’s working but the bills have still got to be paid so we’re all aggressive and hot tempered, your emotions are like that (makes an up and down gesture).

Joshua paid for a former British boxer’s funeralGetty

“I was so stressed, I was under a lot of pressure and he went, ‘Alice, do you mind if I get it?’

“She said, ‘What do you mean?’ My mum didn’t quite hear him. And he went, ‘I’m going to pay for his funeral, Alice if you don’t mind,’ and he paid for it.”

Joshua is estimated to have amassed more than £200million in career earnings since his professional debut in 2013.

The Olympic gold medallist also pocketed a staggering £39.8m for his bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in March this year, in which the Brit won via a second round knockout.

Joshua also raked in an estimated £6m for his recent IBF heavyweight title fight against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium.

However, the bout did not go to plan for Joshua as he was dropped three times before Dubois delivered the knockout punch in the fifth round.

But Joshua is hopeful of a rematch against his 27-year-old rival, with a date in February targeted.

However, Dubois could have eyes on the winner between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury to unite the heavyweight titles once more.

Usyk and Fury will throw down for a second time in Riyadh on December 21.