It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly five years since unbeaten world ranked heavyweight Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius (22-0, 13 KOs) knocked out former world champion Lamon Brewster. It was a big step for Helenius who at the time had just 10 professional fights compared to that of Brewster’s 40 fights. The 6’7 Helenius entered the fight looking the part physically but there were still questions on how he would fair against someone the likes of a Brewster. Helenius dominated the fight in route to stopping Brewster in round 8. Brewster ended up retiring after this fight.
Helenius has had 12 fights since and is still unbeaten. He will square off this Saturday versus Johann “The Reptile” Duhaupas (33-3, 20 KOs) of France. The main event bout will take place at the Hartwall Arena in Helenius native Helsinki, Finland. The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds with the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title at stake. The winner of the bout could find themselves in the top five rankings of the WBC if not higher.
Duhaupas may not be unbeaten but he has done something in boxing Helenius has not. He has challenged for a world title. Duhaupas unsuccessfully challenged WBC world champion Deontay Wilder last September. Duhaupas had some moments in the fight but more than anything showed some very good determination and durability. It appeared that Duhapas was going to be on the second boxer to go the distance with Wilder as a professional. Then late in round 11 Wilder stopped him.
Helenius will be fighting at home and will enter the fight as the favorite. It would be quite impressive if Helenius would be able to stop Duhaupas earlier than Wilder did. The most important thing is that he gets the win. Helenius seems to have picked up the steam he had going following his victory over Brewster. This fight is a must win for Helenius if he is trying to get a heavyweight world title fight now rather than later. It’s literally in his hands now to go out and get this victory over Duhaupas.
