Unbeaten WBO Intercontinental Champion Robert Helenius (14-0, 9 KOs) will face the next huge test on his way up the heavyweight rankings when he collides with former world champion Sam Peter (34-4, 27 KOs) at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany on April 2. “This is a dream match-up of two nightmares,” promoter Kalle Sauerland said. “Robert has taken the heavyweight world by storm and will continue his path to glory with a victory over an accomplished champion like Peter.”
Helenius, the Nordic Nightmare, sent shockwaves through the international boxing world by clinching four spectacular victories in 2010. In January, he stopped former world champion Lamon Brewster in the eighth round before edging Gbenga Oloukun in Helsinki two months later.
In August, Helenius won the EU Heavyweight Title with a sixth-round TKO victory over previously unbeaten Gregory Tony. In November, he pleased a boisterous crowd at Helsinki´s Hartwall Areena when he stopped Attila Levin the second round of their Scandinavian derby. “We are very pleased with Robert´s development,” Team Sauerland´s sports director Hagen Doering said. “We have moved him very fast because he is a very special fighter with an incredible punch. Now is the time to take the next step, which is a showdown with Peter, a very dangerous opponent. It will be a spectacular fight. I am sure the Nordic Nightmare will topple the Nigerian one.”
Peter is one of the biggest names in the heavyweight scene, having been in the ring with both Klitschko brothers. In 2005, Peter knocked down Wladimir Klitschko three times – only to lose on points. Two years later, he beat Jameel McCline to win the Interim WBC Heavyweight Title and then defeated Oleg Maskaev to become WBC Champion, a title he later lost to Vitali Klitschko. In his last fight in September 2010, Peter failed to take revenge on Wladimir Klitschko. “Sam Peter is one of the biggest and best names out there and I look forward to proving myself against him,” Robert Helenius said. “He has a tremendous punch and will be very tough to beat. But I will not allow him to stop me on my way to the top. It will be a great fight.”
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
