Robert Helenius will step through the ropes against Anthony Joshua this weekend, with a win setting the Brit up to face Deontay Wilder in early 2024.
Fans and pundits are ready to compare AJ’s performance to that of Wilder’s, who knocked the Finnish fighter out cold in the first round of their bout last October.
Wilder’s trainer, Malik Scott, told Boxing Social he has a keen eye on the fight and how Joshua copes with the ‘live dog’ that is Helenius.
“Obviously he’s fighting somebody that we already basically comatosed, which is still a live dog that can fight. Robert Helenius is still dangerous, he’s a big guy, but we want to see what AJ do with him.”
Having said that, Scott believes it’s unfair to compare the match-ups because of the styles employed by the two favourites.
“They are gonna compare the performances. That’s what happens at the high level when two guys share an opponent. In my opinion it’s not really fair to AJ because he’s a combination puncher. Deontay Wilder is a one-punch knockout artist.
He’ll go five or six rounds with the Dominic Breazeales. Deontay go five or six seconds with these guys. It’s just not fair. AJ puts punches together very well at a speedy, rapid, consistent pace, and Deontay is one-punch knockout artist with so many other attributes that the world hasn’t seen yet.”
Heading into the fight, Joshua said that he was not focused on what Wilder did to Helenius, only his own performance. There’s little doubt that a statement stoppage would do more to sell any future fights, though.