MILLIONS of viewers around the world watched British boxing star Anthony Joshua take the WBO title over Joseph Parker in a televised showdown earlier this month.

Now fans will have the chance to get up close and personal with the world heavyweight champion much closer to home, at an exclusive new event in Poole.

The British sporting icon is one of several global superstars lined up to visit Bournemouth and Poole as part of a new series of events called, My Life Experiences With, organised by Bournemouth businessman and event organiser, Ty Temel.

Ty told the Echo: “People are so fixated on people’s lives these days - what they are up to, how they got to where they are and so on through social media that we wanted to bring that to life. We want to bring many more names of this calibre to the area. The sort of people that most of us only ever see on TV and would never dream that we could actually meet and hear their life story firsthand. It will be a unique experience.”

Tickets for My Life Experience With Anthony Joshua at Lighthouse, Poole at 6.30pm on Saturday, May 19 are on sale from 9am today. See details in the advert on the right.

Ty. who also runs Halo nightclub and organises Sandfest. said: “May 19 is actually my 30th birthday and my girlfriend had a surprise party lined up for me so she wasn’t happy until she heard who the guest was, then she soon calmed down!”

The Anthony Joshua evening will include a 60-minute special guest interview, followed by a Q and A session with the audience, a signing session, photo opportunities, a meet and greet and a large auction of some of Joshua’s sports memorabilia in aid of Dorset Mind.

“The bottom line is it will be aspirational, inspirational and motivational. We’re not normally lucky enough to get these sort of big names to Poole and Bournemouth,” Ty added.

“We’ve been working on AJ for quite a while and we feel proud he’s chosen to work with us as event organisers as he only has a few dates free for promotions like this.

“And he’s so current right now. He’s so humble, he’s so genuine and he’s so inspiring and good for sport.”

Ty revealed that they are also hoping to bring more big stars to the area. Other names in the pipeline include Mel Gibson, Al Pacino, Robert de Niro and Sylvester Stallone.“We had Arnie Schwarzenegger lined up for October but he’s just had open heart surgery so he can’t commit to anything this year.

“If the Anthony Joshua event sells as quickly as we’re hoping, we have potentially secured another couple of dates with him in June.”

Tickets are on sale from lifeexperienceswith.com and range in price from £50 for a balcony seat to £200 which includes front row table, dinner, drinks, photos and a meet and greet.

n The My Life Experiences With series launches with SAS expert Jason (Foxxy) Fox, a former Royal Marine commando and special forces sergeant on Saturday, April 28 at the Hilton Bournemouth.