BoxRec

Unbeaten welterweight contender and Minneapolis-native Jamal “Shango” James will battle former world champion Antonio DeMarco in a 10-round welterweight attraction that headlines Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes Saturday, July 13 from The Armory in Minneapolis.

Robert Helenius vs. Gerald “El Gallo Negro” Washington

Televised coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and will also feature a 10-round heavyweight clash between Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius and Gerald “El Gallo Negro” Washington, plus unbeaten prospect and 2016 U.S. Olympian Karlos Balderas will square-off against Joshuah Hernández in an eight-round lightweight bout.

Currently riding a three-fight winning streak, Helenius (28-2, 17 KOs) will make his U.S. debut on July 13 after establishing himself as one of Europe’s top heavyweights for several years. Born in Sweden and fighting out of Mariehamn, Finland, Helenius knocked out Erkan Teper in September to earn his place in the IBF rankings. The 35-year-old has won six of his last seven fights.

Washington (19-3-1, 12 KOs) is a 6-foot-6 heavyweight who was a former college football standout at the University of Southern California and a U.S. Navy veteran. Fighting out of Vallejo, California, Washington challenged heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in 2017 on FOX. He scored a unanimous decision victory over John Wesley Nofire in 2018 on FS1 before losing to Adam Kownacki on FOX in January.

Viewers can live stream the PBC shows on the FOX Sports and FOX NOW apps or at FOXSports.com. In addition, all programs are available on FOX Sports on SiriusXM channel 83 on satellite radios and on the SiriusXM app.

Helenius will KO Washington. Helenius has enough power for Washington's shaky chin for sure. Washington falls apart under pressure and after being hurt.

DrDuke is right. This fight is merely to get Helenius a win to set him up for a prospect or contender. Washington isn't a fighter.

Washington always was a fun interview when we all still did ATGRADIO. Very funny guy. That's self evident with his nickname. He's certainly "passed it" as a legitimate heavyweight threat, but Helenius is certainly not a title threat either. It's not quite a crossroads fight but not far off from it.

He did beat Teper in his last fight, but Teper couldn't do crap with Wach or Hammer, and we know they in turn couldn't do anything with Fury and others. So Helenius is two or three rungs below the top. Washington, is three or four rungs below the top.

This'll be a 60/40 match. Helenius just hasn't been exciting me. He's so ponderous. It's any man's fight I'll say. If Teper went right, it's plausible that so does Washington.

We won't be debating the winner of this for our HW #15 that's for sure. But as far as a HW fight goes, who knows, it might be an OK watch.
I would pick Hellanus to stop Washington.

yawn

Helenius will win. Washington seems to have no confidence in himself. He kinda jabs, and moves, but he fights like he's a man half his size up against somebody that looks like him

stevec@france wrote: ↑13 Jun 2019, 03:13yawn

Totally agree.

Just a couple of bodies who figure to only go through the motions at this stage of their careers.

I'd be essentially satisfied with this. It seems like Helenius is trying to make a run to distinguish himself as a top tier gatekeeper. Getting another win like this would make Helenius a better scalp for whoever.

What I don't like about this match-up is...
-Washington is on a pretty bad run, and I don't really want to see him take anymore losses until he gets another win that can reaffirm the value of his scalp; like Dawejko, Leapai, or Rudenko.
-Both of these fighters are reasonably well-tested, so this match isn't going to provide very much new information. I'd prefer to see Helenius fight someone less tested, like Romanov; and for Washington to fight someone less tested, like Demirezen.

Lackeos wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 00:19 I'd be essentially satisfied with this. It seems like Helenius is trying to make a run to distinguish himself as a top tier gatekeeper. Getting another win like this would make Helenius a better scalp for whoever.

What I don't like about this match-up is...
-Washington is on a pretty bad run, and I don't really want to see him take anymore losses until he gets another win that can reaffirm the value of his scalp; like Dawejko, Leapai, or Rudenko.
-Both of these fighters are reasonably well-tested, so this match isn't going to provide very much new information. I'd prefer to see Helenius fight someone less tested, like Romanov; and for Washington to fight someone less tested, like Demirezen.

i agree, The Viking win this match, and next fight one off the prospects

I'm predicting Helenius Vs Chisora if they both win

Evenly matched fight, i'd say 60/40 Helenius. Washington will look better early in the fight but eventually he will lose by close dec/late ko

dagilechia wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 21:09 Evenly matched fight, i'd say 60/40 Helenius. Washington will look better early in the fight but eventually he will lose by close dec/late ko

Disagree. This is a fight that Helenius can end in five or six rounds.

oogiebe wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 21:13 Disagree. This is a fight that Helenius can end in five or six rounds.

Maybe. But to me, he is nothing special (and never was). Average fighter with average power who doesn't throw too much punches.

oogiebe wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 21:13 Disagree. This is a fight that Helenius can end in five or six rounds.

Maybe. He definitely could've at one time, not sure if he still can. I do expect he can win regardless though, and even him winning against a recognizable even fringe contender at this point isn't a certainty.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 21:18 Maybe. He definitely could've at one time, not sure if he still can. I do expect he can win regardless though, and even him winning against a recognizable even fringe contender at this point isn't a certainty.

I'm going on more of what we saw of Washington. He just doesn't look like he wants to be in the ring.

oogiebe wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 21:23 I'm going on more of what we saw of Washington. He just doesn't look like he wants to be in the ring.

He definitely doesn't, but because of that the one thing he does kinda do is guard himself, and use a kinda probing "stay away from me please" jab which might just make Helenius stay away from him enough for him to last the distance. Helenius has had a major shoulder injury, and never really looked the same since that. He might be content to do just enough to take the decision. I'm sure he'll open up and get the KO if it's there, but I don't expect he'll do anything too crazy going for it.

Both of them are really no better than Top 25 or 30-ish at this point.

oogiebe wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 21:23 I'm going on more of what we saw of Washington. He just doesn't look like he wants to be in the ring.

Yeah but the question is - can Helenius make him look like this? Probably yes but it's not so obvious. Anyway, it's another well matched hw fight, we will get a lot of them in next weeks

Easy night for Helenius. It'll be good to get him back in the win column. If he can actually get healthy the division is wide open.

punchoutsb wrote: ↑14 Jun 2019, 22:56 Easy night for Helenius. It'll be good to get him back in the win column. If he can actually get healthy the division is wide open.

Where does Helenius go if he wins this?

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑04 Jul 2019, 10:29 Where does Helenius go if he wins this?

Probably limited to being a stepping stone for an up-and-comer, fight Pulev as previously planned to keep him busy, maybe fight for EBU or EU belt? Better positions than he's been for a while tbh.

HomicideHenry wrote: ↑12 Jun 2019, 22:37 Washington always was a fun interview when we all still did ATGRADIO. Very funny guy. That's self evident with his nickname. He's certainly "passed it" as a legitimate heavyweight threat, but Helenius is certainly not a title threat either. It's not quite a crossroads fight but not far off from it.

He did beat Teper in his last fight, but Teper couldn't do crap with Wach or Hammer, and we know they in turn couldn't do anything with Fury and others. So Helenius is two or three rungs below the top. Washington, is three or four rungs below the top.

This'll be a 60/40 match. Helenius just hasn't been exciting me. He's so ponderous. It's any man's fight I'll say. If Teper went right, it's plausible that so does Washington.

ATGRADIO? Was that the Eastside Boxing thing with Jenna J?

Fight week.

Interesting fight. Either could win this. The winner of this still doesn't crack the Top 20 at the moment for me though to be honest, either that or they're just barely over the line.

Fringe contenders. Evenly matched though, so it'll be a good fight for what it's worth.

chinarich wrote: ↑04 Jul 2019, 11:13
ATGRADIO? Was that the Eastside Boxing thing with Jenna J?

Jenna J still does shows once a week from what I understand. Her program is "OnTheRopes" radio. She used to come on sometimes onto ATGRADIO. We weren't affiliated with ESB or any website. We had our own website for a time.

Frank Stea, Tim Kudgis, Michael Doss, Andrew Hartley, Thomas LaManna and myself (Rufus Defibaugh) were the primary cast. We had other crew members like Rick Glaser, Jesse Rican, Andrew Dodge Milwall, Eddie Gonzalez, Eliud Vazquez Torres, Angelicque McQueen, Maureen Shea, Joey Dawjecko, Rubin Williams, Andre Rozier and many others from 2010-2018.