By: Shane Willoughby
Robert Helenius vs Gerald Washington this weekend is a fight of the underachievers. I don’t think you can two fighters in modern boxing who have failed to maximise on their abilities.
This fight is a real ‘pick me’ fight because it’s difficult to know exactly who will turn up to fight. It could be a great battle or an absolute snooze fest.
Washington on his day can outbox many good heavyweights. His height and footwork on the back foot caused Deontay Wilder all sorts of problems. But sometimes it looks like the American doesn’t care and just turns up to get paid. He just doesn’t have the heart.
Helenius, on the other hand, is the definition of hit or miss. On his day, he has the power to knock any fighter in the world out. The late Emanuel Steward rated the Nordic Nightmare as one of the top talents of this era.
Hence why he was one of Klitschko’s sparring partners for so long. But sometimes the Finnish fighter stinks the place out. He is the only person that can hurt both Whyte and Chisora but still find a way to bore the fans to sleep.
So, to call this fight is a really difficult task. But Helenius has the power to knock Washington out cold. That has to be on the American’s mind.
However, Gerald Washington does have good movement and he does try to run himself to a 12 round points win. Fortunately, this fight is only 10 rounds.
The most likely scenario for this fight is the pair run around, and just at the point where the eyes of the fans start to close, Helenius lands a massive right hand and ends the fight.
90% of Helenius’ fights go exactly like that. For some reason, his punch output is just always minimal. But his knockouts are always emphatic. In the words of Manny Steward, a motivated Helenius causes every fighter trouble.
The other fight on the card is between Jamal James and Antonio De Marco Soto. I wish I can tell you this will be more exciting but I can’t see how. In fact, this fight might be even worse
The matchmaking for this match is abysmal. Antonio De Marco Soto who is coming off a defeat, has spent the majority of his career at lightweight and has never fought at 147, is taking on the biggest welterweight in modern times.
Jamal James stands at 6 ft 2. If you thought Tommy Hearns was a big welterweight James is taller.
If James could win in emphatic fashion and stop the Mexican he can send out a great message to the rest of the division and say I can knock out a lightweight.
All jokes aside, James is a very accomplished fighter and is too good to be in these types of fights. Although he lost to Ugas, he is still a very good fighter and hopefully after he dispatches Antonio De Marco Soto he gets a big fight.