Anthony Joshua will still be fighting this weekend.

Finland's Robert Helenius will be stepping in on short notice to fight the former unified heavyweight champion this Saturday at the O2 Arena in London.

It's all the more impressive from Helenius given that the 39-year-old only fought in Finland this past weekend where he TKO'd Mika Mielonen in the third round.

Nonetheless, he will have a quick turnaround as he looks to shock the world against Joshua.

“This wasn't in the script,” Joshua said (via ESPN). “I am laser-focused on the win. I can make steps forward to bigger and better things but the road map has a checkpoint, Saturday night.”

Joshua was originally set to fight domestic rival Dillian Whyte in a rematch this weekend. However, the fight was rocked with the news that Whyte had an adverse finding in his drug test — the third time of such an occurrence.

Whyte was promptly removed from the fight on Saturday with the search for a short-notice replacement commencing right away. Andy Ruiz Jr. — who notably defeated Joshua on short notice for the heavyweight titles back in the summer of 2019 — notably called for the opportunity in what would have been a trilogy fight.

“Eddie Hearn, Joshua, I think I’ve found a new replacement – again! Let’s run it back,” Ruiz said in an Instagram story. “Let’s get the trilogy. Let’s get it!”

Ruiz would have certainly made a lot more sense given his rivalry and history with Joshua while he's also a bigger name than Helenius. However, the opportunity ultimately went to the Finnish heavyweight.

There's an extra Deontay Wilder dimension to the fight now as well.

Although not confirmed, it seemed very evident that the winner of the Joshua vs. Whyte fight — especially if it was Joshua — would go on to face Wilder in Saudi Arabia before the end of the year.

While it's unclear (and pretty unlikely) if Helenius would get that same opportunity, Joshua still seems primed to take on Wilder should he get the win as expected.

Wilder also notably returned to winning ways following his trilogy defeat to Tyson Fury with a first-round knockout win over Helenius back in October.

There's no doubt Joshua's performance this weekend will be compared to Wilder's, but as far as Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is concerned, that knockout punch from the American would have taken anybody out.

He also believes Helenius will be a tricky and dangerous fight for Joshua.

“Yes, he lost to Deontay Wilder, but that was by a shot that would have probably knocked out a horse,” Hearn said. “But he came to fight. He can really punch, he's 6-foot-8 and he won at the weekend.

“Ultimately there is criticism in whatever you do, but I actually think this is a tricky and dangerous fight.”

Whether it'll be a tricky and dangerous fight remains to be seen, but what is for sure is that Joshua needs a statement-making win.

After losing his rematch to Oleksandr Usyk for the heavyweight titles back in August, Joshua returned to winning ways against Jermaine Franklin in April earlier this year.

But despite fighting under a new trainer in Derrick James, “AJ” didn't impress all that much in his win over Franklin.

Suffice to say, the UK crowd as well as boxing world as a whole will be expecting nothing less than a finish on Saturday night.