Robert Helenius vs. Dereck Chisora on May 27

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: #13 IBF Robert Helenius (24-1, 15 KOs) will be fighting former heavyweight world title challenger Dereck Chisora (26-7, 18 KOs) in a World Boxing Council title eliminator on May 27 in a rematch at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. The winner of the Chisora vs. Helenius rematch will be the mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Chisora and Helenius will be fighting for the vacant WBC Silver heavyweight title on May 27.

Helenius, 33, already beat Chisora by a 12 round split decision 6 years ago on December 3, 2011 in Helsinki, Finland. The results were controversial in the minds of some boxing fans, as they thought that Chisora had done enough to deserve the victory. In looking at that fight again for this article, I noticed that Chisora was throwing a lot of wide punches that were being picked off on the gloves and arms of Helenius. If you gave Chisora rounds based on him just throwing punches that were being blocked, then you had him winning. But in terms of actual scoring punches, Helenius looked like the better fighter of the two on the night. The judges scored the fight 115-113, 115-113 for Helenius and 115-113 for Chisora.

‘’I feel like this is my time, I’m in my prime, and I can’t wait,” said Chisora. “I might be relaxed now, but when I leave London, I’m going to war. When I get on that flight I become a different person. Mr. Nice Guy is gone. It brings the vicious side out in me, and he’d better be ready!’’

Honestly, I don’t see how Chisora and Helenius are fighting in a WBC heavyweight title eliminator. It makes zero sense to me. Both guys were recently beaten, and there are other fighters that you can say that are far more deserving to be getting a title shot than either of these two. Helenius was stopped by Johann Duhaupas in the 6th round last year in April 2016. Since that loss, Heleniu has put together two nothing wins over journeyman fighters Konstantin Airich and Gonzalo Omar Basile.

Those are not the type of wins that you like to see from a fighter that is fighting in a WBC title eliminator, is it? I mean, if Helenius had beaten an actual contender like Dillian Whyte, Kubrat Pulev or Bermane Stiverne, then I could understand him fighting in a title eliminator for a chance to fight against Deontay. But beating the likes of Basile and Airich, I don’t see that as nearly enough for Helenius to be fighting for a position to get a title shot.

For his part, Chisora has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights since last year. Chisora was beaten by Dillian Whyte by a 12 round split decision in his last fight on December 10, and earlier in the year in 2016, Chisora was beaten by Kubrat Pulev by a 12 round split decision. With a record of 1-2 in his last 3 fights, I don’t see Chisora as deserving to fight in a WBC title eliminator. If this was another sport like the NFL, it would be like a bottom dweller team fighting in a playoff game to get to the Super Bowl. You don’t see that. You have to achieve in another sport to get to the big game. I don’t know why Chisora and Helenius are in the position to fight for a world title after having done so little.

The 6’6 ½” Helenius will have the hometown advantage over Chisora with the fight taking place in Helsinki. I don’t see that are being a factor in this fight. If Helenius can’t score a quick knockout in this fight on May 27, he’ll likely gas out like he did in their previous fight and wind up struggling in the last half of the contest.