By Jake Tiernan: The capable Robert Helenius will take on Anthony Joshua in the twelve-round main event this Saturday night on August 12th, at the O2 Arena in London, stepping in to replace Dillian Whyte following his positive VADA tests.
Here’s the good news: Joshua vs. Helenius will NOT be on PPV. It’ll be shown on regular DAZN as part of the subscription.
Helenius is being given a second chance for a big fight after losing to Deontay Wilder by a first round knockout last October in New York.
Many fans thought that Helenius would never be seen again in a significant fight after that loss, but here is being given a golden opportunity to upset Joshua and get a massive payday in a rematch.
While some boxing fans are unhappy with the replacement, it’s essentially a lateral move because Helenius (32-4, 21 KOs) is at the same level as Whyte regarding the danger he presents to Joshua and what he’s left in the tank at age 39.
Helenius can really punch, and he’s got the ability to blast Joshua into the Andromeda galaxy 2.5 million light years away.
AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn wasn’t going to put his golden goose in danger by throwing him in against the heavyweights that fans were hoping he’d use as a replacement opponent.
Here is a short list of some of the fighters fans wanted Joshua to fight on short notice this Saturday:
– Andy Ruiz
– Filip Hrgovic
– Jared Anderson
– Arslanbek Makhmudov
– Martin Bakole
– Johnny Fisher
– Otto Wallin
– Demsey McKean
The 6’6″ Helenius has the punching power where he could KO Joshua quite easily if he’s able to stick around long enough in the fight to unload his artillery.
What Helenius has going for him is he’s coming off of a third round knockout win over Mika Mielonen last Saturday night, so he’s going to be ready for Joshua.
Heavy Duty at the O2 this Saturday 💣 No PPV – all part of your @daznboxing subscription. Let’s GO 🔥 pic.twitter.com/jXERV7hDZn
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) August 8, 2023
Helenius = dangerous fight for Joshua
“I think Robert Helenius is a good fight. Yes, he lost to Deontay Wilder, but that was by a shot that would have probably knocked out a horse! But he came to fight,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing. “He can really punch, he’s 6ft 8in, and he won at the weekend. Ultimately there is criticism in whatever you do, but I actually think this is a tricky and dangerous fight.”
“He has been on fire in this training camp, we expect, and we expected a fantastic performance from him, and he wants to show you that.  I think it would have been more than reasonable for him to say, ‘I was training for Dillian Whyte. Obviously, the money’s changed; everything’s changed. My head’s gone a little bit. Let’s let’s reschedule.’
“But he said, ‘No, I want to fight,’ and when he gave me that instruction, we don’t let him down. So as we sit here now, perhaps three hours, perhaps eight hours, perhaps 24 hours away from signing his opponent, we want to make it happen.
“The calls come in from the undercard, from the trainers, from the managers tell me it’s dead on. You have to understand. In boxing, they only get paid when they fight. It doesn’t matter what level they’re at. It doesn’t matter if you’re making 10 million or five grand. You only get paid when you fight.
“So all of these people on the undercard have spent 12 weeks of their life, spending money on their training camp, travel, food, equipment, and AJ’s is several hundred thousand pounds in his training camp, and they want to fight,” Hearn said.
Joshua has had many volunteers
“So we don’t want to let anyone down, we don’t want to let the fans down, we don’t want to let our broadcaster down, we don’t want to let Anthony Joshua down, the other fighter down. People come out of the woodwork in this situation. We’ve had loads [of interested fighters],” said Hearn about the amount of interest.
}I’ve had 30 heavyweights, going from the English heavyweight champion to Andy Ruiz, who comes out saying, ‘I will fly over on Monday or Tuesday. You just have to give me a lot of money.’ I haven’t even discussed it.
“Johnny Fisher, Manuel Charr, Agit Kabayel,” continued Hearn about heavyweights that volunteered to face Joshua this Saturday. “You can imagine the numbers thrown around. It’s a bloodsuckers industry,” said Hearn.
