The stage is now set for Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder to share the boxing ring. Joshua secured a victory on Saturday with a finish of Robert Helenius. The event took place from The O2 Arena in London, England and aired live on DAZN.
Anthony Joshua Destroys Robert Helenius
The 26th victory in the career of Anthony Joshua was an important one, as the former champion positioned himself for an even bigger fight next.
Joshua scored a seventh round knockout of Robert Helenius Saturday live on DAZN. The event took place from The O2 Arena in London, England. Helenius was a short-noticed replacement for Dillian Whyte, who was removed after failing a drug test.
With the win, Joshua is now expected to take on Deontay Wilder in a bout that has been years in the making.
“Any time’s a good time to fight,” Joshua said (thanks to ESPN for the quotes). “It’s only a fight. It don’t matter who it is. It could’ve been Wilder eight years ago or Wilder now. It is what it is at the end of the day.
“There’s no worry to me when it is. I’m just happy that we can get the fight going and I think people appreciate that. I’m doing my best to keep heavyweight boxing on the map.”
Joshua had little trouble controlling Helenius through the first six rounds, as the fighter took the bout just days after earning a win. In the seventh, though, he finally fell after Joshua landed with a right-cross that knocked him out cold.
Back-to-back wins by Joshua have him sitting pretty in the heavyweight division as he looks towards a potential third encounter with reigning WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The card also saw another heavyweight in action, as Filip Hrgovic moved to 16-0 with a 12th round stoppage of Demsey McKean. The finish was the 13th in his career and the most important, as it was a title-eliminator for the IBF belt held by Usyk.
First, Usyk will defend his titles against Daniel Dubois in Wroclaw, Poland later this month.
Derek Chisora earned a decision win over Gerald Washington, moving to 34-12 overall while handing Washington his sixth loss in 27 fights.
