Breaking – Anthony Joshua now set to fight Robert Helenius on short notice in O2 Arena
Following the cancellation of a scheduled heavyweight rematch with former WBC heavyweight title challenger, Dillian Whyte this weekend in London, former heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua will, in fact, remain on the capital card – officially booking an impromptu pairing with Finnish heavyweight, Robert Helenius.
Joshua, a former heavyweight world champion, was scheduled to rematch Whyte in a potential title-eliminator this weekend at The O2 Arena in London, however, Matchroom Boxing confirmed last week that an “adverse” finding discovered in a drug test sample provided by Whyte, would force the scrapping of the pairing, and the ultimate removal of Whyte from the event.
Robert Helenius drafts in on short notice to fight Anthony Joshua
And in turn, the promotion has since confirmed that the aforenoted, Robert Helenius – who just featured last week, will now fight Anthony Joshua on short-notice.
“Confirmed: @anthonyjoshua will now fight The Nordic Nightmare Robert Helenius this Saturday at The O2!” Matchroom Boxing posted on their official X account. “The full undercard takes palace as originally planned…”
Most recently featuring atop a card in the capital back in April of this year, Watford native, Joshua landed a unanimous decision win over American heavyweight, Jermaine Franklin.
The victory returned Joshua to the winner’s enclosure for the first time since a 2020 title defense win over Kubrat Pulev, before consecutive decision losses against Ukrainian world champion, Oleksandr Usyk.
For Helenius, the Finnish heavyweight managed to return to the winner’s enclosure for the first time since a staggering opening round KO loss to former WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder back in October of last year in Brooklyn – with a win just last weekend.
Featuring in Savonlinna in his native Finland, Helenius would score a third round round TKO win over Mika Mielonen – securing his twenty-first career knockout victory.
