Helenius is Joshua new opponent for Saturday August 12 bout
Finish Robert Helenius has been named as Anthony Joshua's replacement opponent for Saturday night's heavyweight clash at London's O2 Arena.
The Finnish fighter - who fought just three days ago - agreed to step in at the 11th hour to replace Dillian Whyte after 'Bodysnatcher' returned 'adverse analytical findings in a pre-fight drugs test.
'I am a true Viking that is willing to face any challenge at a moment's notice,' the 39-year-old Helenius said.
'This is not an opportunity I was going to let slip away. I plan to make the most of it.'
'This wasn't in the script,' Joshua said of his new opponent. 'I am laser-focused on the win. I can make steps forward to bigger and better things but the roadmap has a checkpoint - Saturday night.'
Helenius is not regarded as being on AJ's level but comes into the bout with momentum having secured a win in his homeland just three days ago.
He won by third-round TKO win over Mika Mielonen and the 6ft 6in heavyweight has a record of 32 wins with defeats to Gerald Washington, Whyte and Johann Duhaupas, and Deontay Wilder.
Hearn, revealing the news on talkSport, said the fight would not take place on pay-per-view on the streaming platform DAZN, with fans able to watch as regular subscribers.
The promoter insisted Joshua was in for a 'dangerous' fight despite Helenius' recent stoppage defeats.
'We saw him batter Adam Kownacki [in 2020 and 2021], he lost to Deontay Wilder, he got knocked out by a shot that would have knocked out a horse and he came to fight - that's the reason he got knocked out in that fight. He can punch, he's 6 ft 8. He won at the weekend and sent me a message from the changing room.
'I think it's a tricky fight, it's quite a dangerous fight.'
Plenty of speculation surrounded the identity of Whyte's replacement, with Demsey McKean and Washington among those who had been touted.
Helenius has been given the nod and now has what he will see as an incredible opportunity to secure not only a bumper payday but also the biggest win of his career.
The 33-year-old Joshua is trying to work his way back to the top of the division, having followed two consecutive defeats by Oleksandr Usyk with a win over Jermaine Franklin last time out.
Eddie Hearn returned from a holiday in the Caribbean to resolve the situation and appears to have done so in finding a replacement.
The shock cancellation was Whyte's third run-in with anti-doping authorities.
He said he was ‘shocked and devastated’ by the positive test and vowed to ‘prove I am completely innocent.’
Whyte served a two-year ban after testing positive for the banned stimulant Methylhexanamine following a win over Hungary’s Sandor Balogh in October 2012.
In 2019 he was charged by UK Anti-Doping after a sample provided in June of that year showed the presence of two metabolites of a banned steroid Dianabol. The charge was withdrawn due to the ‘extremely low
levels of the metabolites.
The most recent test was performed by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), who informed Matchroom about the positive result for a banned substance, the identity of which was not initially made public.
