Robert Helenius

Robert Gabriel Helenius (born 2 January 1984) is a Finnish professional boxer.

In the early 2000s, Tony Halme was one of Helenius' first sparring and training partners.

Helenius won the bronze medal in 2000 at the European "cadets" (U 17) championships in Patras; he lost to Croatian Mario Preskar.

In 2001 at the Junior European Championships in Sarajevo he earned another bronze, losing to hard-hitting Russian Islam Timurziev.

At the 2001 Finnish Amateur Boxing Championships, in the super heavyweight division, Helenius lost to eventual gold medallist Janne Katajisto in the first round.

The following year, Katajisto defeated Helenius in the final.

In 2005 at Mianyang Helenius beat David Price on points but then lost to Rustam Saidov.

As an amateur, he won a super-heavyweight silver medal at the 2006 European Championships.

He holds notable wins over former world heavyweight champions Lamon Brewster, Samuel Peter, and Siarhei Liakhovich.

Helenius began training boxing under his father at the age of five.

2006, however, was his breakthrough year.

At the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Plovdiv he finished second, again beaten by Timurziev, this time on points.

By this time all of Helenius's victories had come by knockout including versus Bogdan Dinu.

Since 2006 Helenius has been fighting in Germany in the Box-Bundesliga (Premier League) for Hertha BSC.

Promoter Sauerland-Boxstall had bought an option in case Helenius turned pro after the Olympics.

At the Olympic qualifiers he lost to Marko Tomasović and Jaroslavas Jakšto.

Helenius also faced MMA heavyweight fighter Sergei Kharitonov in the amateurs, beating him by points.

Helenius turned pro in 2008 to fight for Germany's Wilfried Sauerland.

In 2009 Helenius knocked out former British heavyweight champion Scott Gammer and defeated Taras Bidenko with a third round stoppage.

In January 2010 Helenius made the biggest step up so far of his professional career in squaring off against former WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster.

Many commentators wondered if the Brewster fight had come too early for the big Finn, however Helenius proved his toughness and punching power by grinding Brewster down to score a brutal TKO in the eighth round.

Helenius went on to defeat Gbenga Oloukun on 26 March 2010 in Helsinki, despite breaking a bone next to the knuckles of his right hand.

In August 2010 Helenius won the vacant EU heavyweight title against unbeaten Grégory Tony.

Helenius defended his title for the first time on 27 November 2010 by beating Attila Levin with a technical knockout in the second round.

In the same match he also won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title.

Trying to build on the momentum of his big win over Lamon Brewster, Helenius signed to fight another former world heavyweight champion in Samuel Peter.

Peter was coming off a brutal 10th-round knockout loss to unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in their marquee rematch bout.

As the bout headed into the 9th the score cards were divided, nevertheless Helenius ended matters scoring a brutal knockout leaving Peter out cold on the canvas for well over the 10 second count.

He has held multiple regional championships in the heavyweight division, including the European title twice between 2011 and 2016.

The fight took place on 2 April 2011.

Peter started the bout aggressively working behind a consistent body and head attack.

However, Helenius weathered the storm and soon began to find the mark with his trademark right hand in the middle rounds.

On 27 August 2011 Helenius successfully defended his WBO and WBA Inter-Continental titles against Sergei Liakhovich in Munich, Germany, by technical knockout in round 9.

It was Helenius' third knockout victory against former heavyweight champions and further cemented his position as one of the world's top ranked heavyweights.

On 3 December 2011, Helenius won the vacant European Championship title (EBU) by beating Derek Chisora by a twelve-round split decision in Helsinki, Finland.

The decision was highly debated as most pundits and onlookers thought Chisora had done enough to get the decision.

In the Finnish press Helenius claimed he had injured his right arm in the first round of the match, and was thus unable to use it fully.

A fracture was found, but it was considered to be minor.

The result was widely criticized by the crowd and pundits with Freddie Roach who was commentating the fight labelling it "just terrible" and added 'Helenius was supposed to be the next big thing and the man to challenge the Klitschko's, but Derek totally exposed him and I'm being generous in giving him four winning rounds in the fight'.

The Ring considered the outcome of the match "a gift", dropping Helenius' ranking from fifth to sixth challenger.