Ok I’m done with Joshua now too.

Joshua is in the process of rebuilding his confidence and working with a new coach. He suffered back-to-back losses in an embarrassing fashion. He was schooled so much so that he topped it off with a full-on Kanye West-style public meltdown. Hrgovic is a young, hungry, officially undefeated (although I think he lost to Zhang, but that's beside the point now) top fighter. Joshua may or may not be able to beat him, but the point is that Joshua needs exactly the type of opponent like Helenius. Heck, even ATGs like Lewis took some easy fights over the course of a few years to rebuild themselves gradually. His first two opponents after the McCall loss were Lionel Butler and Justin Fortune. They weren't exactly world-beaters, were they? Butler lost 10 of his first 17 professional fights. How is Helenius worse than that? Lewis eventually had a title fight again almost two and a half years and five fights after his loss to McCall.

And now just imagine that Joshua lost back-to-back and had that cringe of a post-fight speech as well last year. He needs time and he needs to fight against guys like Helenius now. There's nothing wrong with what Joshua is doing at this point in his career.

 

There's no actual "rebuilding" happening. Fighting Helenius is just a brand-building exercise for the Wilder fight next January. Fortunately for AJ, Wilder has his own set of problems (lots of mileage, untrainable, just plain getting old). Neither AJ nor Wilder are getting back on top.

 

Wouldn't be any better than Helenius.

But the notion that Hrgovic needs a build up and Helenius doesn't is nonsense.

 

Helenius couldn't beat Joshua even with a full camp. In fact, if it wasn't for this weird turn of events, Helenius would never even get a chance to. He is 39 years old and got knocked out by Gerald Washington. His days of making serious money are over. Now all of a sudden he gets a chance to make one last big payday to retire on. If the going gets too rough, all he has to do is go down. I can't see on what planet this ISN'T a good decision for Helenius. It's a gift from the gods really.

 

I agree with what you say but Lionel Butler was actually on a pretty good win streak going into Lewis fight, I think he won something like his last 16 fights with a notable 1st round stoppage over Tony Tubbs.

Butler wasn't an elite fighter but he was actually ranked in the top 10 when Lewis fought him and was a big puncher, it was a decent test for Lewis on his comeback trail.

I actually remember Butler coming out fast in the 1st round, and Lewis looked a little unsure of himself until he settled into the fight in the 3rd round.

In all honestly I think Butler would've been seen as more of a threat than Helenius. Butler hit damn hard and is maybe a tad underrated.

 

Has to be one of the most unfounded misdirected opinions ever posted on a forum!

Dyllian Whyte was the one who failed a drug test just 1 week before the fight, this is on him and no one else.
Joshua told Hearn he would fight anyone but he wanted to fight even though he’s trained specifically for Whyte.
Hearn did well to save the event, cancelling the PPV and retaining the broadcaster while also ensuring all the fighters on the undercard still get their exposure and payday.

Helenius only fought a week ago but let’s be honest his fight was a 3 round walkover that won’t have taken anything more out of him than a short morning run. He’s ready to go and available meaning he doesn’t have to leave another opponent in limbo to face Joshua.