In a crushing blow to his career, previously unbeaten heavyweight contender Robert Helenius (22-1, 13 KOs) tasted defeat for the first time in his eight year pro career in getting halted in the 6th round by #12 WBC Johann Duhaupas (34-3, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. The fact that Duhaupas, 35, was able to go into Helenius’ own hometown to defeat him has to hurt even worse for him.
Vladimir S
Juergen Braehmer decisions Eduard Gutknecht
Fighting a needless rematch, WBA (regular) light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (48-2, 35 KOs) once again beat Eduard Gutknecht (29-4-1, 12 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight in their rematch at the Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Germany. Just like their first fight three years ago, Braehmer was much too good for the slower, weaker and less skilled 33-year-old Gutknecht.
Huck stops Afolabi
Coming off of a bad knockout loss, 31-year-old former WBO cruiserweight world champion Marco Huck (39-3-1, 27 KOs) was able to score a 10th round TKO win tonight over IBO cruiserweight champion Ola Afolabi (22-5-4, 11 KOs) at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany. The fight was stopped by referee Jack Reiss after the 10th round had ended.
He halted it because of Afolabi’s left eye being swollen shut. Huck had been hammering Afolabi with right hands to the eye from the very start of the fight. In the 1st round, Huck rammed his head accidentally into the face of Afolabi, and that obviously didn’t help Afolabi’s eye any.
Guerrero wants rematch, Garcia says no
Robert Guerrero (33-4-1, 18 KOs) fought well enough to deserve a draw last Saturday night in his fight against Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs), but the judges saw it differently in giving the 27-year-old Garcia a 12 round unanimous decision at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The judges scored it 116-112, 116-112 and 116-112.
Guerrero was upset about the decision afterwards and said he wants a rematch, because even Floyd Mayweather Jr. said that the fight should have been scored a draw. However, Garcia and his dad Angel Garcia are saying no to a rematch. They want to move on to bigger fights. Just what those bigger fights are is unclear, because they don’t want to fight Amir Khan.
Khan: It’s payback time for Danny Garcia
With his #1 ranking with the WBC, Amir Khan is on the verge of finally getting one of the fights he wants in him getting a potential crack at the new WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) in his next fight if he wants it. Khan says he definitely wants to face the 27-year-old Garcia so that he can avenge his loss from 2012, and pick up the WBC 147lb title that was recently stripped from Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Last night, Garcia won a close 12 round unanimous decision victory over Robert Guerrero (33-4-1, 18 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Giovanni De Carolis stops Vincent Feigenbutz
Interim WBA super middleweight champion Vincent Feigenbutz (21-2, 19 KOs) fell apart tonight in getting beaten by 31-year-old Italian Giovanni De Carolis (24-6, 12 KOs) by an 11th round technical knockout in their rematch at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany. De Carolis, #14 WBA, unloaded on the 20-year-old Feigenbutz with a series of power shots in the 11th round to get the TKO victory. The fight was stopped by referee Gustavo Padilla at :32 of the round.
Feigenbutz probably should have taken a knee to try and clear his head after getting hurt, but he was too out of it to think clearly. Feigenbutz fought like he wasn’t thinking too clearly from the 1st round, as he let the fight get out of hand early with De Carolis getting off to a big lead in the first half of the fight by simply being the busier fighter. Feigenbutz came back a little bit in the 2nd half of the fight in throwing some nice power shots that connected. He was fighting more for survival at that point.
Deontay Wilder vs. Artur Szpilka to be televised on Sky Sports
In 10 days from now, WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) will be in the ring defending his title against Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight will be televised on Showtime Boxing in the United States, and on Sky Sports in the UK.
In the co-feature bout, unbeaten Vyacheslav Glazkov (21-0-1, 13 KOs) puts his unbeaten record on the line against the undefeated American knockout artist Charles Martin (22-0-1, 20 KOs) in a fight for the vacant IBF heavyweight title that was recently stripped from British heavyweight Tyson Fury.
Joseph Parker interested Anthony Joshua fight
Unbeaten heavyweight contender Joseph Parker (17-0, 15 KOs) says he hopes to face undefeated British/Commonwealth heavyweight champion Antony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) in the future. Parker, 23, is a little bit younger than the 26-year-old Joshua, but with perhaps a little more punching power in both hands. Joshua has been developed a bit more as a pro, and he would appear to be a little ahead of the 6’4” New Zealand heavyweight at this time.
Parker saw Joshua’s recent 7th round stoppage over the injured Dillian Whyte last December and he was impressed with what he saw from Joshua. Whyte staggered Joshua in the 2nd round before suffering an injury to left power hand and being forced to fight mainly with only one good hand the rest of the way.
Pacquiao won’t be retiring after Bradley fight, wants Mayweather rematch
Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) is counting on Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) coming out of retirement to give him a rematch in the near future so that the two of them can end their careers with a bang. Until then, Pacquiao plans on continuing to fight. Just when he’ll be hanging up his gloves has yet to be determined.
It was thought that Pacquiao would retire after his fight with WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) on April 9th of this year, because Pacquiao has a good chance of being elected into a senate seat in the Philippines. It was thought that Pacquiao wouldn’t have time to still fight if he’s working as a politician in his home country. However, something seems to have changed Pacquiao’s mind about retiring.
Roach not sure if Bradley has improved with Atlas
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes that one of the biggest selling points for the third fight between his fighters Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley is the improvements that have been made in Bradley’s fighting style with new trainer Teddy Atlas. Arum thinks that this isn’t the same Bradley that Pacquiao fought in the past in 2012 and 2014, and got the better of in both fights.
Pacquiao lost the first fight in 2012 and won the second one in 2014. However, the general consensus is that Pacquiao was the better fighter in both fights with Bradley. Freddie Roach, the trainer for Pacquiao, says he cannot see how Bradley has improved with Atlas. The two only worked together for the Brandon Rios fight last November, and Rios came into the fight a fat 170lbs.