Robert Helenius has overcome injuries to regain his status as a player in the heavyweight division.
It’s amazing how one victory can change everything.
Robert Helenius was seen as a has-been when he stepped into the ring to face Adam Kownacki on March 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Finn walked out as a major player in the heavyweight division for the first time since the early 2010s.
Helenius, demonstrating that power is the last thing to go, stunned the boxing world by stopping the then-unbeaten Kownacki in only four rounds.
Now he could be only one more victory away from challenging for one of the belts owned by Anthony Joshua, who rebounded from his upset loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. to regain his titles last December.
“I think it would be a very interesting fight [against Joshua],” Helenius told Sky Sports. “I would like that very much. It would be fireworks and tactics, of course, but I think it would be a very, very interesting fight for me. I was very surprised that he got knocked [out by Andy Ruiz Jr]. He made mistakes, but he did well in the second fight.
“Ruiz and me are very different fighters. We are the same height, Anthony and me. I’ve been there in a sparring camp with him. I have nothing personal against him, he’s a very good guy. I think very highly of him and I like him a lot, but I think I would beat him.”
And he’d be happy to face Joshua in the U.K.
“Of course, the Vikings have been there many times before,” Helenius said. “Yes, that is exactly what I’m planning to do (a Viking invasion).”
Another possible opponent for Helenius? Tyson Fury. Helenius has sparred with both Joshua and Fury.
“It’s a whole different fight,” he said of a prospective meeting with Fury. “… I would not reveal … secrets, how I would go about the fight. It’s also a very interesting fight.”
Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) said he’s in position to talk about such lucrative matchups because he’s healthy for the first time in a long time.
“I think it’s because I’ve been training injury-free for a couple of years now,” The 36-year-old said. “I had a lot of problems after my shoulder injury and shoulder operation. Dealing with a lot of problems with hand operations and stuff like that. I was sick, I had a lung disease, and I think I’m bouncing back.
“I hope I will get the biggest fight. I don’t really care who I’m fighting next, so I’m going to be ready for whoever comes in my way.”
Adam Kownacki says he learned from his loss to Robert Helenius on Saturday and is confident that he can come back.
Adam Kownacki’s goal now? Follow the lead of fighters who have come back from knockout losses to accomplish great things.
Robert Helenius stunned the then-unbeaten Kownacki and the boxing world by stopping the Polish-American in the fourth round Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Kownacki’s hometown.
Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) became the mandatory challenger to one of Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight titles. Kownacki (20-1, 15 KOs) must rebuild.
“I wanna be the best,” Kownacki said after the fight, according to BoxingScene.com. “That’s my goal, to prove I’m the best fighter. But we have great fighters, like Lennox Lewis, who came back. A lot of great fighters lost and came back, so I’m about to do the same.”
Helenius withstood the typical pressure applied by Kownacki for three-plus rounds. Then, in the fourth, the Finn hurt Kownacki with a right that put him down. It was ruled a slip but it was also the beginning of the end for the favorite.
Moments later Helenius put Kownacki down again and then followed with a barrage of hard shots that prompted the referee to stop the fight.
One thing that Kownacki has going for him in his coming attempt to rebound is his youth: He’s only 30.
“It’s boxing,” Kownacki said. “You’ve gotta be careful at all times. One moment of not being cautious, you get caught with a good shot and the fight changes, especially in the heavyweight division. But it was a learning lesson. I’m still young, still beautiful, so I’ll be back.”
Robert Helenius reminded us with his dramatic knockout of Adam Kownacki that perseverance can pay off.
GOOD
Robert Helenius?
The “Nordic Nightmare” hadn’t been a relevant heavyweight for close to a decade. The tall, lean Finn was taken seriously around the time he beat in succession Samuel Peter, Sergey Liakhovic and Derek Chisora, but that was in 2011.
Since then, injuries and promotional issues ended whatever momentum he had built and periodic losses – to Johann Duhaupas, Dillian Whyte and, only eight months ago, Gerald Washington (by knockout) – prevented him from regaining it.
Indeed, how he ended up in a title eliminator against Adam Kownacki on Saturday in Brooklyn is anybody’s guess.
Well, it doesn’t matter how opportunities arise. The idea is to take advantage of them when they do. And he certainly did.
Helenius, who never gave up on himself, used guile and toughness to withstand the blanket of punches with which Kownacki smothers his opponents to score one of the biggest upsets in recent months, a fourth-round knockout before thousands of stunned Kownacki fans at the Polish-American’s home arena, Barclays Center.
Helenius, 36, said beforehand that he was as healthy as he had been in years and that he his training was going well. He said in so many words that he was embarrassed by the loss to Washington, which only made him more determined to succeed in what is probably the last stage of his career.
And he reminded us that a heavyweight – almost any heavyweight – can turn a fight in an instant because of inherent strength. He hurt Kownacki with a right hand, which caused a “slip,” and it was all downhill from there for Kownacki.
As a result, Helenius went from all-but-forgotten to a major player in the sport’s glamour division overnight. He’s the No. 1 contender for one of Anthony Joshua’s titles and in position for other lucrative matchups.
Only in boxing.
BAD
Adam Kownacki was as stunned as anyone after he was stopped by Robert Helenius on Saturday in Brooklyn. AP Photo / Frank Franklin II
Live by the sword, die by the sword. Kownacki learned this lesson the hard way.
Kownacki has been willing to take punches in order to give them because he generally outpunches you, both in terms of volume and power. That has been a winning formula. The problem is that, at some point, one or two of those punches you take are going to hurt you.
That’s what happened to him on Saturday. He fell victim to both a big, strong opponent and inevitability. Helenius hurt him with that first right hand and he simply couldn’t recover.
The first loss is always hard for anyone to swallow. The fact it came by brutal knockout in Kownacki’s case will have been particularly painful emotionally.
The good news is that life and boxing careers go on. If Kownacki is smart, he will have learned a valuable lesson from the setback. He shouldn’t change who he is, a high-energy fighter who outworks his opponent almost every minute of every round. That plan of attack is what has made him effective and exciting.
At the same time, he can’t ignore defense entirely. Reckless aggression can lead to disaster, as we saw on Saturday. Dial it back just a bit. Put more emphasis on avoiding punches both in the gym and come fight time. That change could help Kownacki avoid another disaster and perhaps prolong his career.
It’s all part of the learning process. Kownacki could come back a better fighter.
WORSE
Canelo Alvarez still hasn’t announced who he will fight on May 2. Ethan Miller / Getty Images
OK, I’m ready for the incessant speculation over who Canelo Alvarez will fight on May 2 to end. I’m ready for that announcement, which is expected this week.
Don’t get me wrong. Such chatter has always been a part of boxing at its highest level. Who will fight whom? It can be fun. With Alvarez, though, it seems to go on and on … and on, with offers being made and rejected seemingly on a daily basis. Only those involved know what’s true and what’s merely rumor.
And it’s not as if the fans are going to get a payoff for the long wait.
I applauded Alvarez for moving up to light heavyweight in what turned out to be a successful attempt to take Sergey Kovalev’s title. I still think that was a bold move. The same goes for his previous fight, a real risk against Daniel Jacobs.
Unless I’m shocked, the opponent about to be announced will not have been worth the wait. Everyone seems to be convinced that Billy Joe Saunders will be lucky lottery winner. That fight makes sense in that Alvarez can add a genuine title in a fourth division with a victory. However, from a fan’s standpoint, it’s hard to get excited about Alvarez vs. Saunders.
Alvarez and Co. would’ve had to choose another top light heavyweight (Artur Beterbiev?) or a third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin to truly pique our interest. Saunders doesn’t do it.
I’ll get excited as Alvarez’s next fight approaches. I always do. He’s one of my favorite fighters. As for who he’ll fight? Let me know when the contracts are signed and the actual announcement is made. Until then, it’s just boring.
Robert Helenius was noncommittal about his immediate future but is open to fighting Adam Kownacki again in Finland.
Robert Helenius suddenly has some leverage.
The Finnish heavyweight, who scored a major upset when he stopped then-unbeaten Adam Kownacki in the fourth round Saturday in Brooklyn, hinted afterward at a rematch in Finland but he is not obligated to give Kownacki one.
There was no rematch clause in their contract, according to BoxingScene.com.
“You know, I have to think about it,” Helenius said. “Like I said, I have to take a couple days off and relax. I’ve been training like a crazy dog for many, many months now and I need a break. You know, just a couple weeks, be with the family and doing nothing.”
If they fight again, Helenius likes the idea of a home-field advantage. He joked about the fact Barclay’s Center was packed with fans of the Polish-born Kownacki on Saturday.
“I think the crowd treated me unfairly,” Helenius said, tongue in cheek. “That’s normal. If we take the fight back to Finland and make a rematch there, probably the crowd in Finland would treat him the same way.”
Helenius is the No. 1 contender for one of Anthony Joshua’s three titles but no one knows when the Englishman might get around to him.
Thus, Helenius will probably fight someone else in the meantime. Only one thing is certain: He’s in a better position today than he was when he woke up on the Saturday morning.
Robert Helenius scored a major upset by stopping Adam Kownacki in Round 4 of their title eliminator Saturday in Brooklyn.
Adam Kownacki dominated most of his opponents but he could be hit. That cost him dearly on Saturday.
Robert Helenius, a seemingly faded but still powerful fringe contender, put Kownacki down with a right-left combination and then followed with a hellacious flurry of hard shots that forced referee David Fields to end the title eliminator in the fourth round at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, Kownacki’s home town.
The result was shocking given Kownacki’s previous success, as he had overwhelmed one opponent after another with his relentless aggression en route to a perfect record coming into Saturday’s fight.
However, the native of Poland learned the hard way that such a style – combined with limited defensive skills – can lead to your demise.
Kownacki (20-1, 15 KOs) fought typically well for three-plus rounds, attacking Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs) with purpose and landing more punches than the taller (6-foot-6½) Finn. He seemed to be on track to another impressive victory.
We might’ve seen a clue of what was to come in Round 2, when Helenius, proving he wasn’t there to roll over, rocked Kownacki with a few punches in wildly entertaining exchanges. Kownacki actually took a step backward at one moment, which was a strange sight.
The end came swiftly in Round 4. Helenius landed a hard right hand during a violent exchange in one corner that knocked Kownacki to one knee. Fields ruled it a slip but replays showed that it was a knockdown. And Kownacki was hurt.
Moments later Helenius landed his big right-left and down went Kownacki onto his back. He got up fairly easily but couldn’t adequately defend himself as Helenius unloaded what seemed to be dozens of hard, accurate shots that gave Fields no choice but to end matters before thousands of Kownacki’s disappointed fans.
The official end came at 1:08 of Round 4.
Helenius, a former contender hoping to make a strong statement at 36 years old, thrust his arms in the air in triumph. He instantly became a significant player once again in the sport’s glamour division, meaning big paydays could lie ahead.
That’s remarkable given that he was stopped in two rounds by another fringe contender, Gerald Washington, only two fights earlier.
Kownacki, dazed and confused, was left to wonder what hit him. He’s still young, only 30, and determined. He’ll probably bounce back. But this one hurts. Gone is his perfect record. And gone is any chance of a major championship fight anytime soon.
Efe Ajagba dominated Razvan Cojanu en route to an 11th-round knockout on the Adam Kownacki-Robert Helenius card Saturday in Brooklyn.
Efe Ajagba looked every bit the heavyweight prospect on the Adam Kownacki-Robert Helenius card Saturday night in Brooklyn.
Ajagba’s fight against Razvan Cojanu looked largely the same from beginning to end, which Ajagba controlling almost every moment of every round. What looked different when the fight was stopped in the ninth round was Cojanu’s battered face.
Ajagba, fighting behind his steady jab, pounded Cojanu to both the head and body round after round until the Romanian began to break down in the middle rounds.
Cojanu took a knee after absorbing a straight round with about a minute remaining in Round 8. And Ajagba stayed on top of him until Cojanu did the same thing in the ninth, the fighter’s way of saying he had taken enough punishment.
Referee Ron Liption ended the fight at that point.
Ajagba (13-0, 11 KOs) was coming off a fifth-round stoppage of Iago Kiladze but the Nigerian went down in that fight. There were no slip-ups against Cojanu. It was complete domination.
Cojanu (17-7, 9 KOs) has now lost five of his last six fights.
In another heavyweight fight on the card, prospect Frank Sanchez, who reportedly had more than 200 amateur fights for his native Cuba, defeated Joey Dawejko by a near-shutout decision in a 10-round bout.
Sanchez, who is 6-foot-4 and athletic, easily outboxed the shorter Dawejko behind a long jab, landed more than enough power shots to win rounds and demonstrated the ability to use his feet to stay out of harm’s way from the opening bell.
Dawejko, only 5-10 and portly, simply couldn’t get close enough to Sanchez to land punches with any consistency.
Sanchez (15-0, 11 KOs) outlanded Dawejko (20-8-4, 11 KOs) by about a 2½-1 ratio to win 100-90, 100-90 and 98-92.
Adam Kownacki weighed in Friday at 265¼ pounds for his title eliminator against Robert Helenius on Saturday at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.
Adam Kownacki remains as beefy as ever.
The Polish-born, Brooklyn-based heavyweight contender weighed in Friday at 265¼ pounds for his title eliminator against Robert Helenius on Saturday at Barclay’s Center in Kownacki’s hometown.
That’s three quarters of a pound less the career-high 266 Kownacki (20-0, 15 KOs) weighed for his last fight, a unanimous-decision victory over Chris Arreola in August.
Helenius (29-3, 18 KOs) weighed in at 238½ even though, at 6-foot-6½, he’s 3½ inches taller than Kownacki.
Kownacki’s weight doesn’t seem to slow him down. He threw an eye-popping 1,047 punches in the 12-round Arreola fight.
Helenius is coming of a second-round knockout of Mateus Roberto Osorio but was stopped himself by Gerald Washington in eight rounds in his most-recent meaningful fight.
Welterweight contender Danny Garcia defeated Ivan Redkach by unanimous decision at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“Win tonight, look good next time.”
The popular boxing maxim – thought to have originated with trainer Georgie Benton – came to mind on Saturday night when welterweight contender Danny Garcia dominated Ivan Redkach over 12 largely ho-hum rounds at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) won by scores of 118-110, 117-111, 117-111 in what was a relatively painless win for the Philadelphia native. Garcia bruised Redkach (23-5-1, 18 KOs) all night with his accurate power punches, leaving no doubt as to the end result. Still, it was a workmanlike performance at best from a world-class welterweight who has been gunning for a big fight for the past year against the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr. It remains to be seen if he’ll get that opportunity in 2020.
This was Garcia’s first fight since his seventh-round stoppage of Adrian Granados nine months ago.
“I thought the referee was going to stop it,” Garcia said after the fight. “I felt like I was punishing him, but he’s a tough guy. He hung in there. I wanted to get the KO. I didn’t get it. But I felt like I boxed smart till the end. And I got the rounds in.
“I felt that’s what I needed after a nine-month layoff. Even though I really wanted the knockout bad, I’ll accept this.”
Garcia admitted that the layoff – and the accompanying heft around the waist that he had to lose in camp – might’ve affected his performance.
“I’m not gonna lie, I felt good but I didn’t fight my best,” Garcia said. “I did lose a lot of weight for this fight. I lost about 25 pounds.”
On the other hand, a bit of extra flesh might have come in handy for Garcia in Round 8, when Redkach, a Ukrainian expat who lives in Los Angeles, bit Garcia’s right shoulder seemingly out of frustration during a clinch.
“He bit me. He said, ‘Mike Tyson’ when he bit me,” Garcia said, chuckling. “That’s the first time ever getting bit in a fight. Things happen, though.”
The southpaw Redkach, who was coming off a career-best knockout of Devon Alexander last year, simply had no answer for the hard-hitting counterpuncher in Garcia.
After a slow start, Garcia began to pick up the pace in Round 4, unloading a series of power punches that landed cleanly on Redkach, including a right hand straight down the pipe. At the end of Round 5, Garcia landed a hard right that briefly wobbled Redkach, whose face began dribbling blood.
It appeared Garcia would get a stoppage late. In Round 9, he continued to land punishing combinations. But Redkach not only survived, he had a few moments himself. In the last three rounds, he repeatedly landed a straight left to the body. It was a valiant response, but much too late.
The fight was not much of a crowd pleaser; boos hailed in from all corners of the arena midway through the bout. With a round remaining, large portions of the crowd began heading for the exits.
Afterward, Garcia said he wants to face either Pacquiao or Spence next.
“Either or. Either of those [fights] I would like to have. I think my style fits very well with both fighters,” Garcia said, adding that he would also be interested in a rematch with Keith Thurman, who outpointed him in 2017, or a might with Mikey Garcia.
Jarrett Hurd returned to his winning ways, but hardly impressed left anyone at the Barclays Center feeling impressed
In his first appearance in the ring since he lost his junior middleweight titles to Julian Williams last spring, Jarrett Hurd looked listless, fatigued, and frankly, just out of it.
After sleepwalking for nearly the entire fight, Hurd woke up in the final seconds of a 10-rounder, scoring a knockdown of a game Francisco Santana before settling for a unanimous decision win on the Danny Garcia-Ivan Redkach card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Two judges scored it 99-90, while the other had it 97-92, all for Hurd.
The size difference between the two fighters was plainly evident, Santana being a career welterweight who moved up to a catch weight of 156 pounds to face the hulking Hurd. Still, it was the smaller Santana who pursued Hurd around the ring throughout the fight.
While his punches did not have the greatest effect, Santana generally outworked Hurd, especially in the second half of the fight. When he wanted to, Hurd would land the far cleaner punches, snapping away Santana’s head with left hooks and right uppercuts.
Working with new trainer Kay Koroma, Hurd did not appear to show any new wrinkles in his game. For most of the night, he fought on autopilot and allowed Santana to set the pace. The crowd, displeased by Hurd’s reticence, began booing in Round 7.
“Hey, listen, the crowd didn’t like it,” Hurd said postfight as the spectators booed relentlessly, “but I did what I have to do.
“We didn’t want to go to toe-to-toe. We just wanted to win the rounds.”
Junior featherweights Stephen Fulton and Arnold Khegai turned in 12 closely contested tactical rounds, but it was Fulton who would have his hand raised at the end.
Two judges scored it 117-111, while the other had it 116-112, all for the Philadelphia-based Fulton.
It was a bull vs. matador kind of fight, with Fulton fighting intelligently off the back foot, working the jab, and whipping counter right hands to the come-forward Khegai, a Ukrainian of Korean descent. (Fulton has also held repeatedly throughout the fight, though the referee never issued a formal warning).
After a nip-and-tuck couple of rounds, Fulton (18-0, 8 KOs) began to take control in the second half of the fight, connecting on hard left and rights to the body. Khegai (16-1-1, 10 KOs) would have some success late, however, especially in Round 11, in which he reeled off consecutive clean blows.
Keeshawn Williams (7-0-1, 2 KOs) outpointed Gaku Takahashi (16-11-1, 8 KOs) over eight rounds in a welterweight bout. Takahashi’s jittery movement gave Williams some things to think about, but Williams landed the harder punches throughout the fight.
Lorenzo Simpson (6-0, 4 KOs) outpointed Antonio Hernandez (2-11-1) in a six-round middleweight bout. Hernandez troubled Simpson for the majority of the fight.
Neophyte heavyweight Steven Torres (2-0, 2 KOs) stopped Dakota Witkopf (1-2, 1 KO) with a straight right in the second round of a four-rounder.
Danny Garcia is fighting Ivan Redkach Saturday with an eye on a much bigger fight — Errol Spence Jr.? Manny Pacquiao? — later this year.
Danny Garcia’s meeting with Ivan Redkach on Saturday in Brooklyn is both a fight and a training session.
Redkach, a 10-year professional, is no pushover. The Los Angeles-based Ukrainian is coming off one of the most important victories of his career, a sixth-round knockout of Devon Alexander in June. This a real fight.
And Redkach is a southpaw, which is where the training session comes in. Garcia thought it was important to face a capable left-hander to prepare him for what might lie ahead.
The fight will be televised on Showtime.
“My mind was set on a southpaw, so after we couldn’t have the Errol Spence Jr. fight, I wanted the next tough southpaw,” said Garcia, whose tentative fight with Spence was shelved after Spence was injured in a car crash. “We’re not looking past Redkach at all, but we wanted the southpaw work for that fight or a [Manny] Pacquiao fight. We’ll be all ready when those fights come up.”
Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) swears he isn’t overlooking Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs), who he recognizes is “hungry.” He can’t get to Spence or Pacquiao without beating Redkach.
And, obviously, that’s the goal. Garcia will be 32 on March 20, an age when many fighters begin to develop a sense of urgency. They want to accomplish – and earn – as much as possible before an inevitable decline.
Danny Garcia must get past Ivan Redkach (pictured) if he hopes to face Errol Spence Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. Amanda Westcott / Showtime
That might be why Garcia seems rejuvenated. In his most-recent fight, in June, the former two-division titleholder looked liked a fighter trying to prove something in a seventh-round knockout of rugged Adrian Granados, who had never been stopped.
That was his first fight since he lost a close, but unanimous decision to Shawn Porter for a vacant 147-pound title in September 2018.
“I’ve been boxing for 21 years,” Garcia said. “All of the big fights and all of the pressure, sometimes you get tired of it. Sometimes it takes something happening to wake you back up. I’ve fallen in love with the sport of boxing again. Sometimes you forget what made you love the sport in the first place. Fighting is what makes me happy, though.
“My last camp before the Adrian Granados fight, I felt really good. I was happy again in this training camp. At this point in my career, I’ve been through it all already. I have to count my blessings and give my fans a great fight.”
This will be only Garcia’s fourth fight since he lost a split decision to Keith Thurman in March 2017, an average of one fight per year. That’s not the schedule of a hungry fighter.
Once upon a time, he had the opposite reputation. He fought tough opposition often.
Between 2011 and 2016, Garcia fought in succession Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt, Erik Morales (for a vacant 140-pound title), Amir Khan, Morales again, Zab Judah, Lucas Matthysse, Mauricio Herrera, Rod Salka, Lamont Peterson, Paulie Malignaggi and Robert Guerrero (for a vacant 147-pound title).
His record in those fights? 12-0. And only four of the victories came by knockout, meaning he had to find means beyond his power to beat one elite fighter after another. Thus, he became known simply as a winner.
That’s how he climbed onto some pound-for-pound lists and earned the major fights against Thurman and Porter. He’s ready to reclaim his place among the best in the sport, beginning against Redkach Saturday with an eye on a superfight before the end of the year.
“This is a very important fight for me and my future,” he said. “My future starts on Saturday night. I’ve already been in a lot of big fights in my career, so it’s nothing new to me. I know Redkach is hungry, but I know what it takes to win on this level and I’m hungry.”
