Finnish boxing great Robert Helenius, 39, is not ending his professional career just yet.
Timo Uusitalo,
Jari Kärkkäinen
British heavyweight boxing great, former world champion Anthony Joshua dropped of Robert Helenius in the seventh round with a powerful straight right hand to the canvas.
– That was a big bang. Of course it hurts, the heart the most. I would have really liked to win this match. We’ll see what comes of this. It’s not time to start throwing gloves at the nail yet, Helenius told Urheilu from the hotel.
According to Helenius, the match in London showed that he can be in “big rings” just fine.
– I hit (Joshua) well with left straights, and I noticed that he was a bit embarrassed by it. Should have just let the right one go. I hurt him many times and felt like I had a match in hand at one point.
Joshua was still in pain before the decisive round
Helenius was very involved in the struggle in the first episodes. The calm tempo at the beginning and the sparing number of punches of both fighters seemed to suit the Finn.
Joshua started to take the initiative in the ring events and in the fifth round increased the tempo. Still, Helenius was still fighting smartly, and Joshua was having trouble getting into a rhythm.
Despite his obvious fatigue, Helenius was able to respond well to Joshua in the sixth round, hitting the Brit a few times.
Before the seventh round, according to the BBC, Joshua said to his trainer For Derrick Jamesthat it was “difficult for the competitor to find space for right hand strikes”.
Joshua finally hit the back of Helenius’ jaw heavily in the seventh round, where the Finn’s footwork froze and the protection had fallen too low. That blow ended the match in one shot.
“Longer preparation leads to a different result”
Helenius was firmly of the opinion that longer preparation would have had a big impact on the outcome of the boxing match.
– I still feel that if I had been given 12 weeks for that match, the result would not have been like that. It would have been the other way around.
39-year-old Helenius is therefore not ending his boxing career yet, although he thought about it a week ago.
– A week ago around the time of the Savonlinna match From Mika Mielo I thought, let’s see what will come of this and whether there is any motivation left, admitted “Robbe”.
Helenius stated that he trained against Mielo for eight sets.
– I didn’t have the condition for 12 sets here. It wasn’t as tough a training camp as it should have been if you knew Anthony Joshua was coming. The better one won this time, nothing more, Helenius emphasized.
Helenius’ balance as a professional is 32 wins out of 37 matches, including 21 by knockout and five losses.
The “Northern nightmare” has two knockout losses to heavyweight top fighters in less than a year. Last October, Helenius’ match ended in a knockout loss For Deontay Wilder in the opening set, and in London Joshua did the same trick to the Finn in the seventh set.
– Even though I lost today, this left me with a good feeling. When the condition was like this, at some point you should have thrown everything into the game, Helenius thought.