By James Slater: Though fans, on this web site anyway, were divided over whether or not unbeaten 27-year-old Finnish big man Robert Helenius deserved rave reviews for his 9th-round stoppage win over Samuel Peter, Ring Magazine have rewarded the 15-0(10) contender with, well, contender status. This past Saturday in Germany, “The Nordic Nightmare” took out “The Nigerian Nightmare” with a win that so impressed the writers of “The Bible Of Boxing” they decided to place him at #9 in their heavyweight rankings.
Helenius, who also has a win to his name over another former champion in Lamon Brewster, is ranked a place above yet another “Nightmare,” in Chris Arreola. Some fans are sure to disagree with the Fin being ranked above the more-proven Arreola (for what it’s worth, even though I was impressed with Helenius’ showing against the dangerous Peter, I wouldn’t make a case for rating him above the Mexican/American at this stage), but it’s certainly true that Helenius is proving himself again and again.
Talk now suggests Helenius may be steered into a match with reigning European heavyweight champ Alexander Dimitrenko, and if he can grab a win there, Helenius will no doubt go up a couple more places (Dimitrenko is currently ranked at #7 by Ring). A fight that really would prove attractive – to both men and to the fans – would be an Arreola-Helenius clash. Both men are looking for an eventual world title shot (a second shot in Arreola’s case), and if the two fought, the winner would have a legitimate right to get one. It’s doubtful this fight will happen, though.
Helenius, who is based in Germany, has fought only there, in Sweden and in the country of his birth. Arreola, who has a big fan base in the U.S, will probably stick to fighting there for everything other than that second world title shot. Helenius will hopefully make his U.S debut one day in the future, however – maybe after he’s fought Dimitrenko. Can the 6.6.5” Fin defeat the 6.7” contender from Ukraine?
This match-up will be a good one if it happens, and the winner will have made huge inroads towards having earned a title shot. It’s debatable either guy is good enough to beat either Klitschko brother; but which heavyweight, if any, is capable of that?