British heavyweight Anthony Joshua will face Finn Robert Helenius

The famous British heavyweight Anthony Joshua, who dreams of returning the champion title, will still enter the ring next Saturday, despite the failed doping test by his opponent Dillian Whyte. White found a replacement in the person of Robert Helenius, a veteran boxer with an interesting biography. He was once considered a near-accomplished heavyweight superstar, but injuries and conflicts prevented him from approaching the top of the pecking order.

Company Matchroom Boxing announced that on Saturday the famous heavyweight Anthony Joshua will still enter the ring as part of a major show at London’s O2 Arena, despite suspension due to the “adverse” results of the doping test of his rival, also Briton Dillian Whyte. It could derail a very interesting event.

Anthony Joshua was considered the undisputed king of the heavyweight category a couple of years ago. However, two consecutive unexpected defeats from Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022 deprived his such status and three championship belts – the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO).

Anthony Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn did not hide the fact that they wanted to return the championship title as soon as possible, and circumstances favored them.

The fact is that Usyk could not agree about the match for the title of absolute champion with the owner of the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt, another British fighter Tyson Fury. And this is believed to have eased the way to the top for other highly rated boxers, including, of course, Joshua.

The Dillian Whyte fight meant a lot to him. Anthony Joshua’s first performance since misfires against Oleksandr Usyk came in April, when he was convincing but lacking brilliance on points. figured out with little-known American Jermaine Franklin. Dillian Whyte is a much more rated boxer who has had a bunch of top fights, and in 2022 participatingand in a championship fight with Tyson Fury, and success in a meeting with him would have dramatically raised Joshua’s shares. In addition, he could show him much better than the duel with Franklin the effectiveness of working with a new coach, Derrick James, and completely new training methods.

An emergency replacement for Dillian Whyte provided Anthony Joshua with the opportunity to have a notable fight on Saturday. Instead of White, Robert Helenius will fight Joshua.

And this is a much more interesting option than, say, another Briton – Derek Chisora, who has recently been constantly fighting with top boxers and losing to them, about whom various media resources most often wrote about as a probable “plug”.

The 39-year-old Finn has an extremely extraordinary biography. At the junction of the decade before last and the last, he was considered an almost accomplished superstar. In terms of physical parameters, the two-meter, beautifully built Helenius was an almost complete copy of the then reigning heavyweight brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. He was similar to them in style, a little monotonous, but extremely effective. He allowed Helenius to rise closer and closer to the top of the ratings, cracking down on strong opponents – Lamon Brewster, Samuel Peter, Sergey Lyakhovich, Derek Chisora.

It was after the difficult duel with Chisora ​​in December 2011 that Robert Helenius began to have problems. During the match, he injured his hand and the damage required surgery and a long recovery. And soon Helenius again took a break in his career, now terribly long, stretching for about two years, due to a conflict with promoter Wilfried Sauerland.

After returning to the ring, he no longer resembled his former self, spoiling the once impeccable track record with losses to the Frenchman Joan Duop, Dillian Whyte, and the American Gerald Washington. However, success in matches with not so highly rated opponents still gave Helenius a top fight in veteran age. In it he is in October 2022 faced with Deontay Wilder, who gave the championship title to Tyson Fury. The match could turn Helenius into a belt hunter again. However, he already ran into a knockout in the first round.

Robert Helenius vowed to prove himself “a real Viking” in his fight with Anthony Joshua and this time “not to let the chance slip away.”

However, it is hard to believe that he will put up serious resistance to the British – and not so much because of the Finn’s fresh background. The fact is that less than a week to prepare for a fight with an extraordinary opponent is a period that, in fact, dooms even experienced fighters to failure. And in the case of Helenius, in addition, you need to know that his previous fight took place no later than last Saturday. That is, after it, he did not even have time to rest. True, this fight was more of a warm-up character: compatriot Miku Mielonen was destroyed by Robert Helenius in the third round.

Alexey Dospekhov