BOOK REVIEW: Legendary British fight figure Mickey Duff called him: “The most outstanding boxer from this county never to have fought for the world title.” Former flyweight champion Charlie Magri said of him: “He was fantastic. He should have earned a fortune.” Terry Lawless, London manager of world champions John H. Stracey, Maurice Hope and Magri, reflected: “He’s probably the most gifted boxer I have ever managed, different to everyone else. I’ve never seen people do things like him.”
Born in England in 1942. Life as a boxing writer began with a weekly column in a newspaper called the South London Advertiser in the early 1960s. Moved to the far bigger-circulation South London Press, writing a twice-weekly boxing section, in 1966. Joined the weekly Boxing News in 1970 and became editor in 1972. Moved across the pond in 1977 for marriage-related reasons and covered the American scene for Boxing News until joining Boxing Monthly in 1990.
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In by far the most interesting fight on the Valuev-Haye supporting show on Saturday, unbeaten Finnish heavyweight Robert Helenius moves up massively in class when he takes on the seasoned and capable Ukrainian Taras Bidenko in an eight-rounder.
Helenius, 25, is a big man at about 6ft 6ins and 250 pounds, and he was a useful amateur, winning a silver medal in the super heavyweight division in the 2006 European championships.
As is customary when prospects are being built up, Helenius has been matched carefully. He has been having things all his own way, with nine consecutive wins, the last four by stoppage. His best result was a sixth-round count-out win over Scott Gammer last May, but the former British champion has been in uninspired form lately.
There is nothing special about Helenius. His body has a somewhat soft look, and his method is to jab steadily and throw an occasional left hook or right hand — his right hands to the side of the body had Gammer discouraged and looking for the exit.
Bidenko, 29, is much more experienced as a professional and has fought a vastly higher standard of opponent. Although Bidenko was knocked out by Denis Boytsov in his last fight he had won 12 in a row going into that bout, and frankly I think that Boytsov would be far too powerful for Helenius.
The Helenius camp is no doubt gambling that the Boytsov defeat took something out of Bidenko and that he might be ready for the taking, and of course they could be right
This looks an evenly matched contest between German-promoted heavyweights. I lean towards the younger, fresher Helenius to jab his way to a win on points. This looks a risky fight for him, but my suspicion is that what we have here are two trains going in different directions.
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