Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua vs. Robert Gabriel Helenius

Placeholder for Dillian Whyte's replacement, TBA in the coming hours. The new opponent will have just five days to prepare. (that is, for AJ specifically - most in the running were already well into training camps).

Poll will go up here once the name is revealed.

Candidates are said to include:

Tier 1, currently most likely:

• Gerald Marcus Washington (scheduled to face Dereck Chisora on the undercard)
• Derek Chisora (scheduled to face Gerald Marcus Washington on the undercard)
• Demsey McKean (scheduled to clash with fellow unbeaten Filip Hrgović on the undercard)

2nd tier, mooted but improbable:

• Filip Hrgović (scheduled to clash with fellow unbeaten Demsey McKean on the undercard)
  
• Andrés Ponce Ruiz Jr. (eleven months on the shelf after beating Luis Ortíz, itself 14 months after he beat Chris Arreola)
• super longshot: Hasim Shariff Rahman, Jr. (coming off two losses; his promoter likely blew his chance by publicly revealing the offer which Hearn now denies)

 

The present conflicting rumors are that it will be Chisora, or they bottled it and canceled this event altogether.

 

I'm leaning toward not believing it's been called off. They wouldn't bother to build up "replacement opponent TBA on August seventh" and then on the day be like "ha-ha, never mind! "

I mean they could, but it would be spectacularly unprofessional.

 

Reading between the lines I think a lot of confusion may have stemmed from Dan Rafael tweeting out that Joshua vs. Whyte had been "called off" due to Whyte failing his drug test. Poor wording on his part. I can't actually view his tweets, since he blocked me a few years ago for roasting his tubby ass.

Big game of telephone.

The wait continues, opponent announced today. Keep the faith.

 

Robbe Helenius is apparently in the mix.

For those unaware, Helenius just fought countryman Mika Mielonen on Saturday.

 

His ego alone is 200kg.

 

I have been called worse.