In 2020-2021, the age-old and already written off heavyweight from Finland Robert Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) upset the Polish belly Adam Kownacki (20-2, 15 KOs) twice in a row in a WBA elimination match. No wonder that now he demands a fight with the winner of the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) from Ukraine and Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) from Great Britain – on August 20 in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) they will fight for the WBA Super titles , IBF and WBO.
Helenius claimsthat he will not accept any more eliminator fights and threatens world boxing association lawsuit: “What other qualifying fight? I am a full-fledged mandatory challenger from the WBA. Therefore, it is clear that I am interested in the fight with the winner of the fight Usyk vs Joshua 2. I should be next. All the eliminators they prescribe after mine are complete bullshit. For this reason, I have only one way out – if I am not officially recognized as a mandatory challenger, I will have to file a lawsuit.
The thing is that the unscrupulous guys from the WBA had already sanctioned an earlier qualifying fight between American Michael Hunter and Briton Hughie Fury, but he did not take place due to injury.
“My lawyers looked into the case. They are sure that the WBA violated their obligations. So we are confident in our position,” says the veteran.
Helenius was previously matched with former WBC champion American puncher Deontay Wilder. The big man comments: “Now I’m only focused on getting the fight with the winner of the fight Usyk vs Joshua 2. Right now I’m only interested in how my dispute with the WBA will be resolved. But definitely I remain in a winning position and may well take some really big fight in the coming months…”
Meanwhile, Wilder’s manager has confirmed a comeback, does not rule out a fight with Usyk or Joshua, but says nothing about Helenius. Previously, the WBA ordered heavyweight fights: Helenius-Fury and Brian-Dubois, but Robert categorically refused. And he also claims that he “knocks out Tyson Fury, he is simpler than Usyk.”
In order not to miss the most interesting news from the world of boxing and MMA, subscribe to us at
Facebook and
Google News.
