By Barry Holbrook: Highly ranked #4 WBA Hughie Fury has been ordered to face #2 contender Robert Helenius by the World Boxing Association.
Hughie (26-3, 15 KOs), the cousin of Tyson Fury, is waiting to find out if he’ll be facing the dangerous 6’6″ Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) in a fight that will put him in a position to challenge for a world title against WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Hughie, 27, also could face the winner of the heavyweight title fight between WBA ‘regular’ champion Trevor Bryan and Daniel Dubois.
Beating the winner of the Bryan-Dubois fight would give Hughie the WBA secondary strap, putting him in a slot to eventually take on the Super champion Usyk once he returns from the war in Ukraine.
“That can happen. He wants a big fight now,” said promoter Ben Shalom to Sky Sports.
“He also wants the winner of Daniel Dubois vs. Trevor Bryan. He would also like to fight Bryan before Dubois, if possible,” said Shalom.
The power of the big Robert Helenius would be a problem that Hughie would need to overcome, but he can negate that.
Although Helenius, 38, has looked good lately with consecutive wins over Adam Kownacki, he was stopped in the eighth round by the unheralded Gerald Washington in 2019.
Helenius has vulnerabilities if one can make it out of the early rounds against the mighty Swede. Hughie has improved greatly in recent fights, defeating Christian Hammer, Mariusz Wach, and Pavel Sour in his last three fights.
Chisora not interested in Hughie Fury fight
Former heavyweight world title challenger Dereck Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) isn’t interested in facing Hughie Fury next, says Shalom. Instead, the 38-year-old Chisora could fight Michael Hunter, Chisora Arreola, or Dominic Breazeale.
It’s understandable why Chisora wouldn’t want to fight the big 6’6″ Hughie, as he’s tall, rangy, hard to hit, and has a steel chin.
It would be similar to Chisora fighting a slightly smaller version of Tyson Fury, but with a better jab, hand speed, and greater mobility than what the WBC champion has at this point in his career.
Chisora has lost his last three fights against Joseph Parker x 2 and Oleksandr Usyk, which means he needs a victory in the worst way against a top rung heavyweight to remain a viable name in the division.
If Chisora is going to fight a top-tier contender, it must be someone credible and, more importantly, relevant.
It’s not going to help Chisora to face a bottom feeder like in his last victory against David Price. That kind of opponent won’t help Chisora. He needs to fight top contenders, preferably guys ranked in the top 10,
“We wanted him to fight Hughie Fury, but he isn’t interested,” Shalom said about Dereck Chisora.”Other options? Michael Hunter, Chris Arreola, maybe Dominic Breazeale. Chisora…has plenty of options.”
Of that bunch, #2 WBA, #6 WBO, #7 WBC Hunter (20-1, 2 KOs) makes the most sense for Chisora in terms of it being a fight that can help him get bigger fights, perhaps even, dare I say, a world title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
WBC champion Tyson Fury wouldn’t entertain the idea of fighting Chisora unless he beat one of these fine heavyweights in addition to a victory over Hunter:
Deontay Wilder
Andy Ruiz Jr.
Joe Joyce
Luis Ortiz
Frank Sanchez
With the way Chisora has looked recently in his last three fights, it would be a tall order for him to defeat most of those names. Sanchez, Joyce, and Ruiz Jr would be challenging foes for Chisora.
Former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) and 42-year-old Luis Ortiz are both winnable fights for Chisora if he could get a chance to face either of those two.
Chisora’s promoter Eddie Hearn recently expressed interest in making a fight between him and the tall 6’7″ Wilder, but the match is unlikely to happen. Wilder has lost his last two fights to Tyson Fury, and he’s now deciding whether to continue his career.
