Robert Helenius scored a 9th-round TKO over Sergei Liakhovich on a heavyweight double-header in Thuringen, Germany, last night that might have been dubbed ?White Man?s Burden: The Future is Now.? Helenius has many fingertips hunting and pecking over him these days, but beating Liakhovich hardly seems to merit even that pitiful distinction.
Last relevant when Friendster was a social networking powerhouse, Liakhovich is a walking microcosm of the modern prizefighter. With only 22 fights in the last 11 years, Liakhovich only had to sit around doing nothing in order to qualify for a big fight for two absurd minor titles. His last three losses, it should be noted, have been against two sideshow acts?Shannon Briggs and Nikolay Valuev?and a Finn. Even so, Liakhovich appeared to be outworking Helenius until he began to slow down halfway through the scheduled 12 due to a broken nose and to the fact that he did not look fit enough to go 8 rounds in a sparring session.
Helenius, as mobile as a stalactite, dropped a tiring Liakhovich with only seconds remaining in the 8th and finished the job with a multi-punch combination early in the 9th. Now 16-0, Helenius has beaten three former ?world champions? in a row and still looks like he could be chased out of a bar by Chuck Wepner on a bad night.
Helenius is poised to redefine the concept of ?ponderous? and seems almost incapable of lifting his feet from the canvas. He does, however, throw solid uppercuts with either hand and has a certain amount of gravitas in the ring. In addition, Helenius opens up when he sees an opponent in trouble, and a killer instinct is an attribute as much in absence these days as decent footwork and a sound defense. Like Tyson Fury, Helenius is tall and clumsy. Unlike Fury, Helenius does not punch himself in the face during fights, is not an insufferable boor, and does not have the indiscriminate and rabid parochial backing of the United Kingdom. This will hurt him as far as marketing goes, no doubt, but any talk of him fighting Wladimir Klitschko can only be considered lunacy. Helenius would be outclassed during the ring walk.
