I don't know a bloody thing about Lyakhovich, other than that he lost to Briggs & Valuev, but remember that even great fighters occasionally lose. At least around HERE folks should be aware that a few losses doesn't mean a fighter is a tomato can. Heck, protecting the "zero" is half of what's wrong with boxing today. Also, some fighters improve drastically after being pro for a number of years. Kahn is a prime example. How was Lyakhovich against Bates & quinn?
I mean I realise that Liakhovich was outboxed by the worst boxer in history, but he weighed 251lbs for that fight.
wheres the part where i said Lyakhovich is a tomato can? also glass jaws dont heal denier Helenius is an explosive combination puncher, good accurate counter punching. signature punches straight right and left hook Lyakhovich not the smartest defense fighter, never saw the straight right that put him down and out against Harris. (Harris softpuncher with about 20% ko ratio) walked straight into a counter by Briggs then didn´t know how to defend himself and eventually got knocked out of the ring with few seconds remaining in the 12th round..conclusion: coincidentally Helenius has exactly the skills to exploid Lyakhovichs weaknesses. likely outcome: Helenius by knockout
Helenius KO under 6 with a couple of consecutive big right hands. Otherwise Helenius UD, Kalle's running the show as Philla pointed out. Should be a good one.
Would not be surprised if Helenius lost this one or was at least badly troubled. He was being outworked by Sam Peter His stamina isn't that great. He has two effective punches in his entire arsenal. He's not very difficult to back up, Peter was bullying him. He also has a soft body and Sergei loves to body punch. Sergei is also pretty savvy and has good stamina.
OK, I'll buy all of this. Of course, again, fighters do improve, and usually the biggest improvement comes with defense. (Wlad, Kahn, Pacman, etc etc) The Harris was in 2002. (Funny that Lyac's record shows his first pro fight as being in 2004!) So again I'm more interted in how he looked in his later fights. Does he really have a questionable chin?
Also wouldn't be surprised if Helenius came in looking crappy. His weight isn't a massive issue but he certainly could use a lot of tweaking in that regard. That and stamina. Sergei on the other hand is at his lowest weight since 2003. In his last fight he was eight pounds lighter then he was against Brewster. One more thing. Sergei finally got back with a trainer that knows and works with him well. Same trainer he had for his career best performance against Brewster. Sergei is definitely prone to lapses in concentration, he's always been hot and cold. I definitely think being back with someone that knows him will help him greatly.
Helenius by decision is a good bet. Liakhovich is tough but I think he is too shop worn at this point to take the younger heavyweight.
Sergei really doesn't have that much mileage on him. One brutal fight doesn't mean a fighter is completely shot to ****. The guys weight is great, and he's looked good enough in his past two fights. The Quinn fight was a great fight, actually.