By Omolade Durojaiye
Former world champion Anthony Joshua needed seven rounds to stop stand-in opponent Robert Helenius in the seventh round of their heavyweight bout on Saturday.
Helenius was only drafted in after fighting in Finland last weekend when Dillian Whyte was ruled out of what would have been an all-British clash following “adverse analytical findings” in a doping test.
The 39-year-old Helenius, who entered the ring with 32 wins and four defeats from his 36 professional bouts, was knocked out in the first round by Deontay Wilder in October.
He avoided a repeat of that embarrassing reverse on Saturday although, with Joshua making a cautious start, boos rang out from a capacity crowd at London’s O2 Arena during the third round.
Joshua, however, landed with a left hook and then hit Helenius with a right to the face later in the round.
The local hero rocked Helenius again in the fourth before the Finnish veteran caught Joshua with a jab.
But the fifth round left Helenius with a bloodied nose and although Joshua made him stumble with a left uppercut, he survived and got through an uneventful sixth round.
“I knew this would happen, everyone’s talking about the new AJ and the old AJ.
“And after two or three rounds the crowd starts to get a little bit impatient.
“He finds the measure of his right hand and he delivers one of the knockouts of the year on Robert Helenius… this is just the AJ you’re going to see now.
“He’s still got to be more aggressive than we saw tonight but there’s a lot on the line,” Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, told reporters.
Joshua however did give his fans what they came to see when he knocked out Helenius with a powerful right-hand punch in the seventh.
The knockout was the 23rd of Joshua’s career, taking his record to 26 wins and three defeats, but his first since December 2020.
This was when he beat Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in a WBA, IBO, IBF and WBO title defence in London.
Joshua lost those belts to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021.
There has been talk of Joshua fighting Wilder, the former WBC champion, next year.
But the Briton needs to keep winning to be talked about in the same breath as the American and reigning champion, Tyson Fury.
“It’s hard for him to get up for fights like this. The Wilder fights, the Fury fights, that’s what he wants,” said Hearn.
Reuters