Heavyweight boxer Cassius Chaney was scheduled to fight Anthony Joshua but the bout was canceled.
Chaney is now serving as a sparring partner for Jake Paul ahead of Paul’s fight against Joshua.
Chaney, who is the same height as Joshua, is helping Paul prepare at his training facility in Puerto Rico.
As Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua prepare for their fight Dec. 19 in Miami, Cassius Chaney is the central figure in an unlikely twist.
Chaney, a heavyweight boxer from Baltimore, was set to fight Joshua Nov. 22 in Saudi Arabia. Now he’s in Puerto Rico, helping prepare Paul to fight Joshua.
“Things sometimes just work out in weird ways,’’ Chaney told USA TODAY Sports.
During a press conference Nov. 21, Joshua mentioned that Chaney was in Paul’s camp.
Paul chimed in, saying,“Already whooped that (butt). Sorry, Cassius.’’
But Chaney sounded only grateful this week during an interview with USA TODAY Sports. The story started less than a month ago when, according to Chaney, he was contacted by Joshua’s promoter, Matchroom Boxing, and offered a chance to fight the former two-time heavyweight champion from Great Britain.
But last week, Chaney said, his fight with Joshua was canceled when Paul and Anthony agreed to their fight.
“I was disappointed and I was upset,’’’ Chaney said.
Then came the twist.
In attempt to confirm Paul and Joshua had officially agreed to fight, Chaney said he called Danny Davis, who is Paul’s cutman and someone Chaney said he knows well.
“He actually worked on my hands a lot when I was in Philadelphia training,’’ Chaney said.
According to Chaney, Davis said he talked to Paul, confirmed the fight with Joshua was official and then invited Chaney to Puerto Rico to serve as a sparring partner for Paul.
Working with Jake Paul: ‘He’s open to information’
Chaney is 6-foot-6, the same height as Joshua. He is 38, two years older than Joshua. He is 24-3 and, like Joshua, has power – 17 of his 24 victories have come by knockout.
But while Joshua won an Olympic gold medal in 2012 before he turned pro and became a two-time heavyweight champion, Chaney has fought mostly in obscurity. Now he’s joined Paul’s high-end camp. During an interview with USA TODAY Sports this week, Chaney said he’s staying in a villa on Paul’s compound.
“Every room has a bathroom, like a mini mansion or something,’’ he said. “I’m actually the only person in this house. …
“The gym is awesome. It is like state-of-the-art. They have two (boxing) rings, a recovery room upstairs, everything – weights, red-light sauna, salt bath, cold tub, massage therapist, everything.’’
Chaney said he’s also been struck by something else – Paul.
“I know I’m stronger than him, but he’s doing pull-ups easier than me,’’ Chaney said. “I know I’m stronger than him, but he’s doing the bench press a little easier than me. He works hard.
“And he’s cool, too. You can go tell him, ‘Hey, man, try this out or try that out and maybe you should try this.’ And he’s open to information. The first day the coaches told me, ‘Hey, you go tell him what you think he needs to do and that type of stuff.’ So it’s very professional and open.”
Chaney said he’s already offered advice to Paul.
‘I told him that when he’s trying to throw his overhand right, he has to keep his eyes up,” Chaney told USA TODAY Sports. ‘Instead of dropping his head down, he’s looking for the overhand, but sometimes he drops his head down and he doesn’t see where the punch is going.
‘It’s better to see where the punch is going when he’s throwing it, so he knows if it lands or not. And he can tell if I’m throwing a punch back.”
Assessing Jake Paul’s skills: ‘He knows what he’s doing’
Although Paul is a significant underdog for his fight with Joshua, Chaney expressed hope for his new boss.
He complimented Paul for his boxing IQ and his athleticism.
“Jake, he knows what he’s doing,’’ Chaney said. “He’s definitely strong, but he has to be crafty and stay elusive.’’
While working with Paul, Chaney said, he realized he wasn’t truly prepared for the fight with Joshua that fell through. He said he thinks he had the power to drop Joshua but that watching Paul train has revealed more Chaney could have done during his own training regimen.
“For the resources we had, we were making it work,’’ Chaney said of his abbreviated training camp. “But you come down here and I get into the strength and conditioning with (Paul) and I’m like, ‘Yo, hold on.’
“This is what I need to be doing.’’
So what’s next for Chaney?
“I haven’t heard I’m going to be a millionaire so much in my life since the last three weeks,’’ he said. “So I’m like, maybe somebody knows something I don’t know, or people know something I don’t know.
“But one of the main things I’ve heard when I came down here straight up, you got to give yourself the best chance you can give yourself. And I’m happy I came down here getting to see the stuff that I need. You know what I mean?’’