Anthony Joshua cancelled his surprise fight in Riyadh this weekend in favour of his December 19 clash with Jake Paul instead.
That’s according to respected boxing journalist Dan Rafael who has revealed that ‘AJ’ was scheduled to fight as a total surprise on The Ring IV: Night of the Champions card in Riyadh on Saturday.
Anthony Joshua Cancels Surprise Fight In Jake Paul U-Turn
Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul has been officially announced for a heavyweight contest on December 19 in Miami, but that wasn’t meant to be Joshua’s next fight.
It has been revealed that the two-time unified world heavyweight champion was scheduled to make a surprise appearance this Saturday night and fight on The Ring IV: Night of the Champions card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia instead.
However, these plans fell by the wayside as soon as it was announced that ‘AJ’ would be fighting ‘The Problem Child’ in an eight-round professional boxing bout next month instead in an announcement that well and truly shook the boxing world.
The Joshua vs Paul rules have been set which includes a 245-pound weight limit for ‘AJ’, 10oz gloves and eight three-minute rounds in a professional sanctioned contest.
Prior to the AJ vs Paul super-fight, the 35-year-old was originally scheduled to appear in a surprise contest on November 22nd in Riyadh on the David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde undercard.
Benavidez vs Yarde goes down for world honours in the light-heavyweight division on Saturday night, with three other world title fights on the card.
With a total of four world title fights on the same bill, some fans speculated that this could be the most world title fights on one card in boxing history. However, that isn’t actually the case.
It appears that Joshua was supposed to compete in a surprise bout on the jam-packed mega-card too, but has made a total U-turn due to the Jake Paul fight instead. Now, ‘AJ’ will return to the ring on December 19, rather than this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
🥊‼️Anthony Joshua was supposed to be a SURPRISE fight on the Benavidez/Yarde Haney/Norman Saudi Card this weekend until they received the Jake Paul offer and pulled the fight‼️😳
🎥:@DanRafael1 pic.twitter.com/4NdM12R9Bq— Hassan (@Hassanwellss) November 19, 2025
Anthony Joshua Was Supposed To Fight Cassius Chaney On November 22nd In Surprise Fight
It has been revealed that Anthony Joshua’s surprise fight on The Ring IV card in Riyadh on November 22 was supposed to be against American heavyweight contender Cassius Chaney.
Chaney boasts a professional boxing record of 24-3 with 17 knockouts, with the 38-year-old set for the biggest payday of his career against Joshua in Saudi Arabia this weekend. However, the fight has now been cancelled with respected boxing coach Kenny Ellis taking to social media to voice his frustration.
Whether or not this is true or not remains to be seen, with Eddie Hearn certain to be asked questions about it this week in interviews. Regardless, cancelling a fight on just five days’ notice to instead face Jake Paul shows the state of boxing in this day and age.
Joshua did what any boxer in the world would do in taking the Paul fight for tens of millions of pounds. However, making a total U-turn on the Chaney fight is something Joshua’s team could come in for some huge criticism for.
Joshua vs Paul will do millions of views worldwide, whereas a fight with a relatively unknown heavyweight in Chaney wouldn’t bring in half as many eyeballs. The Chaney fight would also make Joshua nowhere near the same amount of money as he is getting for his eight-rounder against ‘The Problem Child’ next month.
Jake Paul issued an update on the ‘AJ’ fight rumours last week, so the supposed surprise fight in Riyadh on Saturday night for the former two-time unified world heavyweight champion against Cassius Chaney is perhaps untrue.
Was gonna fight Cassius Chaney by the looks of it pic.twitter.com/hG1Uxaak8f
— EverythingBoxing | Darshan Desai (@EverythingBoxi2) November 19, 2025
