By Scott Gilfoid: Robert Helenius (25-1, 16 KOs) says he’s coming to knockout Dillian “Body Snatcher” Whyte (21-1, 16 KOs) this Saturday night, and he’s hoping he doesn’t wind up running from him when the two share the ring at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Helenius and Whyte will be competing for the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title, and the right to become the No.1 contender to WBC champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder.
Before he suffered a shoulder injury against Dereck Chisora back in 2011, Helenius was of the most devastating punchers in the heavyweight division. There was no stopping Helenius six years ago. With his 6’6” height, enormous power in both hands, Helenius looked to be a future world champion at heavyweight. All that changed when Helenius suffered a shoulder injury in his fight with Chisora in 2011.
Somehow, Helenius squeaked by Chisora in winning a questionable 12 round decision. Winning a controversial decision wasn’t the real problem for Helenius. It was the shoulder injury that he suffered. Helenius hasn’t ever come back from that injury to be the fighter that he was before he took that fight. If Helenius was punching like he did before the injury, Whyte would be in big trouble on Saturday night. Of course, Whyte’s wily promoter Eddie Hearn wouldn’t put him anywhere near a prime Helenius.
Hearn is being very careful with Whyte ever since he was almost beaten by Chisora on December 10 last year. Whyte was clearly beaten by Chisora, but with him being the A-side in that fight and the one that is signed to a big-time promoter in Hearn with his Matchroom Sport promotional powerhouse, he got the nod. Hearn hasn’t shown much interest in putting Whyte in with any dangerous heavyweights since the Chisora fight. Yes, Hearn wants to match Whyte against Deontay Wilder, but that’s different.
Wilder is a world champion, so it’s a win-win situation for Whyte no matter what happens in that fight.
”It will be a tough fight for Dillian more than it will be for me, and it will be a loss on his record, that’s it. I hope he stands and fights with me and doesn’t run, as his reputation suggests,” said Helenius. ”I will definitely become word heavyweight champion. I have no doubts.”
This is how the Whyte vs. Helenius fight breaks down:
• Power – Helenius
• Boxing IQ – Even
• Ring generalship – Whyte
• Defensive skills – Whyte
• Speed – Even. Neither fighter has much in the way of hand speed
• Stamina – Even. Whyte gasses out easily, but so does Helenius
• Size – Helenius
• Chin – Even. Whyte can be hurt, as we saw in his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua. Helenius was surprisingly knocked out by Duhaupas recently
Helenius is very confident, but he hasn’t done anything with his career in the last 6 years for him to be showing this kind of confidence. Talking like this is fine for Helenius if he were beating top level fighters, but he’s not had a big fight against a talented fighter in many years.
Helenius is like someone that has been asleep for the last 6 years, and who has just woken up and remembering that he once had a career. Only Helenius knows why he hasn’t stepped it up since the Chisora fight. It’s too bad that Helenius has waited this long to finally take a tough fight, because he should have fought a worthwhile contender 5 year to get back into the rankings and to get a world title shot. That’s Helenius’ mistake obviously.
These are Helenius’ opponents since his win over Chisora in 2011:
• Evgeny Orlov
• Gonzalo Omar Basile
• Konstantin Airch
• Johann Duhaupas
• Franz Rill
• Beka Lobjanidze
• Andras Csomor
• Michael Sprott
• Sherman Williams
This is a big fight for both heavyweights. Helenius didn’t figure to be in the world title shot picture recently until he was picked out by Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn as an opponent for the 29-year-old “Body Snatcher”.
If Helenius wins this fight, he’ll capture the WBC Silver title and it will put him in the top spot for a title shot against Wilder. There’s a lot of money to be made for the 33-year-old Helenius if Joshua ends up being Wilder in a unification fight in 2018. Even under the best of circumstances, the Whyte-Helenius winner probably won’t get a title shot until 2019.
”Chisora and I were scheduled to fight in May, but he did not want to have anything to do with me,” said Helenius via WBC Boxing. ”I think Dillian is not a person who dodges his rivals and he will fight me.”
Whyte obviously took the fight with Helenius because he believes he can win. Whyte wouldn’t have taken this fight if he didn’t think he could beat him, because a loss would wreck his chances to get a big money fight against Deontay Wilder and/or Anthony Joshua. Whyte hasn’t shown interest in fighting a rematch against Dereck Chisora ever since his controversial victory over him last December. Helenius looks beatable at this point of his career. Helenius could surprise Whyte though.
The Nordic Nightmare could very well knockout Whyte like he’s done with most of his opponents in the last six years if he can put hands on him and land with his immense power shots. Whyte can take a decent punch, but he doesn’t have a steel chin. Whyte can take punishment for a long time before he wears down under the big power shots.
The 29-year-old Whyte is 4 years younger Helenius, but his resume is loaded with stiffs, and there’s really no one that jumps out at you other than Chisora and Joshua. Those 2 fights both should be losses for Whyte, and that’s the tragedy. Whyte has fought just 2 good opponents during his 6-year pro career, and they both got the better of him. One got robbed (Chisora), and the other knocked him out (Joshua).
”This will be a major title fight for the WBC Silver belt, in which we will give out absolute bet,” said Whyte.
This is not a major world title fight. Whyte is exaggerating more than a little here. It’s a fight for one of the WBC’s made up non-world level titles. The important thing about the WBC Silver strap is it will give the winner the No.1 ranking with the World Boxing Council. It means the winner will eventually get a title shot against whoever emerges as the WBC champion in 2018. Right now, Hearn is trying to encourage Wilder to take the fight with Whyte in early 2018 on February 3, but so far he’s ignored him and kept his focus on wanting the Joshua fight.
Prediction
I have to pick Whye to win this fight due to him being the more active and fresher fighter of the two. Whyte is catching Helenius at the right moment in his career with him having been knocked out in the 6th round last year on April 2. Helenius has won his last 3 fights against weak opposition. It’s going to be a lot tougher for Helenius when he gets inside the ring with Whyte on Saturday night. I see the body punching from Whyte being the telling factor in the fight in leading him to victory. I prediction that Whyte will win the fight by a 6th round knockout of Helenius.