By William Mackay: British heavyweight Dereck Chisora (15-1, 9 KO’s) sees something in the fighting style of his December 3rd opponent Robert Helenius (16-0, 11 KO’s) that makes the 27-year-old Chisora believe that he can knock him out when they battle at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

It’s going to be tough for the 6’1 ½” Chisora, though, because he’s going to be giving away five inches in height and reach against the big Helenius. The weight isn’t the issue here in this fight, as both guys will likely come into the fight in the low 240s.

Helenius doesn’t put on a lot of weight despite being very tall, but he does hit hard. Chisora probably won’t have issues with Helenius’ reach, because he’s easy to get inside on as we saw in his recent win over Sergiy Liakhovich last August. If Chisora can come in close and stay there, he could give Helenius a lot of problems.

However, Chisora will get taken apart if he stays on the outside and allows Helenius to jab him and land his left hooks and right hands. Chisora will have to get inside quickly, because Helenius punishes his opponents when they move forward. He also likes to back away and fire while moving in retreat. This is why Chisora has to come in low and fast to avoid Helenius’s shots. Chisora has to stay close. He has no chance if Helenius is able to keep him at range.

Chisora told the BBC Sport “Believe me, this is the biggest mistake they have made with his [Helenius] career, and I’ll be going over to Finland to knock him clean out. He’s called the Nordic Nightmare, but he’ll be having nightmares about me for the rest of his life after I’ve left him flat out on the canvas.”

Helenius, ranked #1 WBO, #3 IBF, #3 WBA, #8 WBC, has excellent power but really poor defensive skills. He’s easy to hit, and doesn’t look good when taking hard shots. If Chisora can rush him and open up with a flurry of shots, it’s possible that he can score a knockout in this fight.

Chisora has to throw combinations, as he’s not going to get the job done by throwing one punch at a time like he did in his lopsided 12 round decision loss to 6’9” Tyson Fury last July. Chisora came into that fight weighing a fat 261 lbs, and the extra weight caused Chisora to gas out after the first three rounds. He was only able to fight sporadically from there on for the rest of the fight.

I think Chisora is going to have a lot of problems in this fight even if he doesn’t fade early. Helenius is a lot bigger than him, and hits harder with every shot. Helenius doesn’t need to load up with his shots to find big power. He’s naturally very powerful and that’s going to be tough on Chisora him having to take big shots all night.