Joshua:' People need to let me breathe’ after stopping Helenius in round seven, ready for Wilder.

Joshua begs ‘People need to let me breathe a bit' after stopping  Helenius in round seven, ready for Wilder

Former world champion Anthony Joshua produced an explosive finish to stop Robert Helenius in seven rounds on Saturday at London’s O2 Arena to remain on course for a super fight with Deontay Wilder early next year.

The former heavyweight champion, who looked quicker for being over five pounds lighter than in his previous fight, had struggled to dominate Helenius as had been hoped but he demonstrated that he retains the potential to return to competing with the elite.

Until little over a week ago he had been preparing for a rematch with Dillian Whyte – a fighter at his most dangerous throwing the left hook. Similarly Helenius, who favours his right hand, had fought even more recently than Whyte had been ruled out when in Finland last Saturday stopping the little-known Mika Mielonen in three rounds.

If at the very least Joshua had had another near-full training camp with Derrick James, the trainer he fought under for the first time as recently as April, then for a fighter so obviously lacking in confidence throughout that victory – a unanimous decision over Jermaine Franklin – and so short of momentum since losing, for the first time, to Andy Ruiz in June 2019, even requiring seven rounds to defeat Helenius represented a significant positive.

The Finn had lost inside a round to Wilder – a former sparring partner – as recently as October but from the opening bell Joshua boxed with considerably more patience. Joshua had also previously sparred him, in 2017 – since when he is a significantly different fighter – but after two competitive rounds in which he

was the superior jab the crowd at The O2 started to boo.

Whether he was responding to their impatience or boxing to James’ instructions Joshua quickly landed a powerful right hand to his opponent’s chin. That Helenius was hurt was not in question; the more relevant question surrounded why Joshua seemed intent on landing single shots at the expense of the combination punching with which his reputation was built.

A further hurtful right followed in the fifth; Helenius responded by landing a left hook and then a jab to attempt to keep Joshua – often seeking to take the centre of the ring – at bay and was punished when taking a left. That Joshua had by then also swung and fallen short with both left and right hands perhaps discouraged him from fighting with greater intensity; perhaps he even already believed that the finish that soon followed was near.

His jab had meant Helenius had started to bleed from his nose in the seventh but there was little predicting the finish that then came. With Helenius open – and having no doubt been subtly worn down by the punishment he had so far taken – he threw and cleanly landed a powerful right hand that dropped his opponent so heavily it was immediately obvious the fight was over. Joshua responded by celebrating even before the referee Victor Loughlin had signalled the finish after 87 seconds; in an apparent cathartic release he then left the ring and made his way around it to interact with countless members of the crowd.

“People need to leave me alone, let me breathe a bit,” the 33-year-old former holder of the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles then said after he had returned to the ring. “Helenius, I told him, please come again. He’s got talent. He will cause a lot of people problems – credit to him for saving the show.

“I’ll see you [the fans] again soon – hopefully two more times this year. I need to stay busy.

“My back’s gone. I’m carrying this heavyweight division to the top.”