By Ian S Palmer
Veteran Robert Helenius of Sweden will try to bounce back from his first-round knockout loss to Deontay Wilder last October when he meets unbeaten Mika Mielonen this Saturday, August 5th. The eight-round heavyweight bout will be held in Finland, where both boxers reside. Mielonen, a former ice hockey player, last fought in March when he stopped Demir Gulanic in the fourth round.
The 39-year-old Helenius was born in Sweden and fights out of Finland. He enters the fight with a record of 31-4 with 20 Ko’s and is a former European Heavyweight champion. He’s a solid heavyweight who wasn’t very well known outside of Europe until his two recent stoppage wins over Kownacki in America. However, the momentum he built with those two victories was suddenly derailed when Deontay Wilder halted him in just one round last year.
Despite that devastating knockout defeat and being stopped in three of his four losses, Helenius actually has a decent chin to go along with pretty good power and can also put punches together with the best of them. He turned pro back in 2008 and has boxed 196 rounds since then. Along with beating Kownacki, his biggest victories have been against Dereck Chisora by split decision in 2011, stopping Samuel Peter the same year and halting Sergei Liakhovich four months later and Lamon Brewster in 2010.
Helenius stopped Erkan Teper in the eighth round in 2018 for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Heavyweight Crown and captured the vacant WBC International Heavyweight Title in 2017 when he stopped Evgeny Orlov in the sixth round. Since turning pro after a fine amateur career, Helenius has also won the IBF International, WBO Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental and European belts and won the vacant WBA Cold Heavyweight Crown with his first victory over Kownacki.
His first loss was a sixth-round stoppage at the hands of Johan Duhaupas in April, 2016 and he dropped a 12-round decision to Dillian Whyte for the vacant WBC Silver Heavyweight Title in 2017. He was then stopped in the eighth round by Gerald Washington in 2019. Helenius stands just over 6-feet-6-inches tall with a 79-inch reach. He’s fought some pretty good opposition over the years in Brewster, Liakhovich, Whyte, Washington, Duhaupas, Peter, Kownacki and Chisora and also has wins over Michael Sprott and Sherman Williams. He has enough power to do some damage as Helenius’ current knockout ratio sits at 57.1 per cent with his last four wins coming by stoppage.
Mika Mielonen is a newcomer to boxing even though he’s already 41 years old. The former junior hockey player made his pro debut in 2021 and has racked up a record of 6-0 so far with all six wins coming by way of stoppage. He’s fought local opposition with his first three fights ending in the first round, the next two being stopped in the second stanza and his most recent outing ending in the fourth round. In total, he’s fought just 11 rounds as a pro due to his 100 per cent knockout ratio.
At 6-feet-3-inches tall, Mielonen gives up three inches in height to Helenius, but unfortunately has an unlisted reach. He will be taking a huge step up in class this weekend as his previous six opponents entered the ring with a combined record of 23-64-5. He’s the CEO of a security company in Finland and decided to turn pro after years of boxing in local gyms. He’s trained by 77-year-old Simeon Kärkkäinen, a former pro boxer.
Prediction…
Mielonen is hoping to become the Finnish Rocky with an upset win over Helenius and at least he’s smart enough to realize that the only way he’s going to achieve his goal is by stopping him. Anything’s possible here as Mielonen definitely has power, is just two years older than Helenius and is catching Helenius on the rebound from a devastating knockout loss to Deontay Wilder. Even so, the bigger Helenius has a tremendous edge in experience and it’s doubtful he’ll be caught cold by somebody with just six pro fights to his name. Helenius wins this unless he’s a shot fighter now. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens though, but it’s not likely going the distance even if it is just an eight-round fight.
