Anthony Joshua was set to fight THIS WEEKEND on David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde card before shock Jake Paul deal

ANTHONY JOSHUA was set to fight THIS WEEKEND before wrapping up his shock deal with Jake Paul.

The two-time heavyweight world champion announced his unthinkable bout with the YouTuber-turned-boxer for December 19 in Miami.

But promoter Eddie Hearn revealed the initial plan was to box in Saudi Arabia this week – unannounced – against little-known American Cassius Chaney.

Hearn told SunSport in Riyadh: “Yes, we had a deal with a guy called Cassius Chaney, a good American.

“We were gonna fight an eight-round fight this weekend. It could have pushed to a later date but this was the focus.

“We hadn’t told anyone and we were just gonna rock up on fight night, we weren’t going to do a press conference, we weren’t going to do a weigh-in.

“We were just gonna turn up and Turki on the night was going to say, ‘Oh, and by the way we have a special guest.’ And AJ was going to come in and fight Cassius Chaney.

“Obviously, two weeks ago that was becoming unlikely because the negotiations with Jake Paul. We had to keep it both moving because I didn’t really believe Jake Paul was going to do this.

“So we had to balance up, was this a bit of clout for Jake Paul or are they actually fight Anthony Joshua? And low and behold we did the deal and the eight-round fight fell away.”

Chaney, 38, is 23-2 in his career with his most recognisable win coming against former WBA ‘Regular’ champion Trevor Bryan, 36.

Social media sensation Paul, 28, is meanwhile 12-1 in his career losing to Tommy Fury, 26 via scrappy split-decision in 2023.

Joshua, 36, is yet to return since his September 2024 knockout loss to Daniel Dubois, 28.

And he emerged as an unlikely contender to fight Paul after Gervonta Davis, 30, was pulled out of their November 14 exhibition amid domestic abuse allegations.

After Ryan Garcia, 26, and Terence Crawford, 38, were deemed unavailable to replace Davis on short notice, Paul’s camp were left scrambling for a replacement suitable for the Netflix platform.

And with AJ out for 15 months off the back of being floored against Dubois FOUR times, Hearn fears Paul has deluded himself into believing in his unlikely chances.

He said: “I just cannot fathom or even believe to think about AJ losing to Jake Paul. I guess anything’s possible, but I don’t see how that can happen.

“But you have to give Jake Paul the credit. He’s doing this because he wants to challenge himself as a boxer which deserves respect.

“I think it’s a bad move from him but he’s obviously convinced himself and so have members of the team, and by the way, I suppose if you really want to try and convince this is a good time to fight Anthony Joshua you probably can.

“He’s been out for 15 months, he’s coming off a knockout defeat, maybe’s his confidence isn’t what it was but he’s not Mike Tyson who is 58.

“This guy is still pretty much in his prime. So the whole thing’s madness but it was an opportunity which we couldn’t refuse.”

The fight will be professionally-sanctioned over eight three-minute rounds with 10oz gloves worn but AJ will be restricted to weighing 245lb.

Hearn revealed Joshua still stands in line to fight Tyson Fury, 37, in September per Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh’s two-bout plan.

But he says he can do so as a global overnight boxing hero.

Hearn said: “I love our spot for so many reasons.

“We were gonna run out against Cassius Chaney for – I don’t know a 1/40th of the money we’re going to get to fight Jake Paul – we’re still getting that run out.

“And when I say a run out, all we wanted to do was wrap the hands, go through the procedure and then we get the chance with His Excellency to fight in February and go into what we hope would be the Tyson Fury fight.

“But now we’ll do it with a massive profile. The clever thing about this deal is overnight AJ becomes the hottest thing in boxing. And when we smash Jake Paul in December we’ll be 100 per cent, unquestionably the hottest thing in boxing.”