Fury vs. Wilder III undercard. Scheduled for twelve rounds for no good reason yet, unless the WBA is sanctioning it for their gold title (for which Helenius beat Kownacki to fill a vacancy last time) - not yet officially announced. Five years the Finn's junior, the Pole looks to avenge his only defeat and climb up the rankings again (currently hanging on at #9, a tenuous hold that could see him yeeted from the WBA's top 15 altogether with a repeat). Between them, however, Robbe is the only man to have fought a rematch between them - and did correct his form versus Yury Bykhautsou (although still not enough to distance himself all that convincingly).
Unless Adam has figured out how to block punches or at least move his head a couple inches either way, the result will be the same KO by the Nordic Nightmare.
Cownaki went back to the gym and spent the whole time learning to get past the jab. TKO4 with helenius face first on the canvas!
Remember when much of this forum were hyping up Kownacki, despite obviously being a plodding pudding?
Kownacki KO this time around He made the fatal error of under estimating Hellenius the first time around. I don’t expect his defence to have massively improved but I do expect him to be alert enough to not get cold cocked.
I’m surprised neither of these guys have fought since their last fight. Helenius looks to have a new groove going on, maybe he’s found a love for the sport again? It’s such a difference since his fight vs whyte where he just had no interest. I hope we see the same helenius and if so he will beat kownacki again.
First fight wasn't totally one sided, Kownacki was winning and Helenius looked like he was struggling with the pace so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Kownacki can reverse things in the rematch. But I think Kownacki needs to get Helenius out of there early. The longer the fight goes the more chances he gives Helenius to catch him again with a shot coming in and once Kownacki is seriously hurt he has no defence. Helenius has the experience to hold and ride out the rough moments, Kownacki just walks right back into the fire, so if he's badly hurt again he'll get stopped again soon after most likely. Despite the first fight ending in definitive KO, I think this is a competitive fight, especially if Kownacki shows up in better shape than last time. His weight had been creeping up with every win and the heavier he got the more he gets caught coming in, he needs the speed to cut the distance to reduce his chances of getting caught. But I'll pick Helenius to win again, it's not a confident pick. Might change it if Kownacki surprises me and shows up in decent shape.
Kownacki via fourth round KO. He catches Helenius with a shot he never sees coming, ala Barkley-Hearns I.
Helenius took that Whyte fight on a short notice just to earn a good paycheck. His contract dispute with Sauerland after his injury was so difficult and prolonged that he even went to work on a construction site for a while and thought of retiring completely. After Whyte fight the doctors found out he had suffered from lung chlamydia (chlamydia pneumoniae) for over a year. That disease can really take your energy away which is one of the reasons for his performance against Whyte. He definitely is in a better shape now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets knocked out while doing his trademark slip backwards with his chin up high.
