December 3, Helsinki, Finland:
Robert Helenius, the Nordic Nightmare, won the vacant EBU heavyweight title and retained the WBO and WBA I/C belts with controversial split decision over British challenger Dereck Chisora in front of 12 738 paying spectators at the Hartwall Arena. The judges all had it 115-113 but with two for Helenius and one for Chisora.
Chisora was on two judges´ cards trailing 3-0 after the first three and 2-1 on the third card.
Helenius stunned Chisora in the first but also injured his powerful right hand and appeared to have a lot of problems with “Del-Boy´s” speed and movement throughout. Robert was scoring with the heavier punches but nothing he did seemed to unsettle the challenger and he was strangly lethargic. Still, it was a very good fight and styles blended well the smaller challenger using his speed and slick movement to make it difficult for the somewhat stiff and heavy punching Finn
Many at ringside felt Chisora was robbed and he did indeed seemed to have done enough to win but many of the rounds were close. Dereck did dominate the later half of the fight though. Robert came back in the last round and won it to secure the win. One judge did score it for Chisora but he had already Helenius as winner.
-I´m the people´s champ, said Chisora,
-You can quote me on this, screamed P 3 Boxing´s matchmaker Petri Paimander, Chisora was robbed!
-Best heavyweight fight since Ali-Frazier, said Don Majeski, and it was very close but I felt the right man.
-I´m disgusted, stated Boxing News´ Matt Christie, who had Chisora a wide winner.
-Eight rounds for Chisora, said Russian cruiser Denis Lebedev.
-I had a draw, said Kalle Sauerland, it was very close.
As for myself I had it 116-113 for Chisora but it was not a highway robbery in my book.
-I was robbed, said Chisora and wanted an immediate rematch but Helenius now Aleksander Dimitrenko as mandatory challenger.
-You must write the EBU and have them tell Dimitrenko to wait, said Wilfried Sauerland. This didn´t sit down well with Team Chisora and the press conference came to a quick end.
Aleksander Povetkin retained the WBA regular heavyweight title with an eight round knockout over Cedric Boswell in what was his best performance since the win over Eddie Chambers. Povetkin had some trouble with Boswell in the first but dominated from then on finally hurting the challenger with a left hook and then knocking him out with a right at 2,58. Boswell was trailing 70-63 on two cards and 69-64 on the third after seven.
Povetkin was at the press conference challenged by WBO cruiser king Marco Huck and accepted the challenge. -We can do it tonight, said his trainer Teddy Atlas, no problem!
Atlas also explained that the key to victory was to take away Boswell´s jab and Povetkin did that well.
Heavyweight Jarno Rosberg outscored Argentinian Manuel Alberto Pucheta after eight. It was scored 80-73 twice and 78-74.
The First Lady, Cecilia Braekhus, retained the WBA; WBO and WBC welterweight titles with a tenth round stoppage of Kuulei Kupihea from Hawaii. It was a one-sided fight and Cecilia broke through in the final round for a stoppage at 0.57.
German heavyweight Edmund Gerber took out late sub Marcus McGee with the first punch he threw for a ko win 18 seconds into the first. McGee came to Germany from Alabama on the day of the weighin stepping in for Michael Sprott, who had been sparring with Povetkin but got sick and had to pull out.
Finnish lightweight Edis Tatli won a ten round unanimous decision over Italian Pasquale Di Silvion after ten rounds of neat, technical boxing. It was scored 98-93, 100-92 and 100-90.
Welter Jussi Koivula beat Spaniard Jose Del Rio on points after eight. The judges had it 80-72 twice and 78-75. Koivula handled Del Rio´s southpaw style well and came out a clear winner after a good fight.
German jr middle “Golden” Jack Culcay took out veteran Giammario Grassellini with a left hook to the body that broke a rib and the normally durable Italian was counted at 0.48 into the very first round of ten scheduled.
Swedish lightheavy Erik Skoglund outscored Amine Belali over four in the show opener. Belali cames from Morocco but fights with a French license and apparently resides in both countries. Skoglund was back after his broken jaw injury and was eager to impress – too eager it seemed but he won every round.