Matchroom weigh in results: Joshua v Helenius show.

The weigh in for Saturdays Matchroom show at the O2 proved colourful today at the Westfield Shopping centre in London. The undercard fighters all made weight headed by Campbell Hatton’s 141.8 to Tom Ansell’s 141.9.

Other undercard weigh in results;

George Liddard 162.3 vs. Bas Oosterweghel 164.7

Brandon Scott 131.9 vs. Louis Norman 133.9

Maiseyrose Courtney 114.4 vs. Gemma Ruegg 113.8

Following this the heavyweights all tipped in appropriately starting with unbeaten Johnny fisher weighing 242 to Harry Armstrong’s 250. 

The highly ranked Filip Hrgovic weighed in at 243 to his opponent Dempsey Mckean’s 245 in an interesting battle of unbeaten contenders. The entertainment started when the popular former heavyweight title challengers Dereck Chisora and Gerald Washington took to the scales. Both fighters are self admittedly friends out if the ring and with tongue in cheek, Chisora verbally challenged Washingtons last minute attempt to request more money from the promotion, Washington denied this as the headstrong Chisora told his adversary that he would eat him alive even if he does decide to run. Both men weighed 252 and 237 respectively. At the stare down Chisora removed his opponents sunglasses and invited eye contact before the pair departed. The Londoner ignored a cordial handshake attempt from Washington before both men exited the stage. Finally both last minute replacement Robert Helenius and former unified champion Anthony Joshua stepped to the scales. Helenius was outweighed by Joshua 249 to 250 respectively. As both fighters faced off Joshua removed his gaze as the Finnish import continued to stare across at him with his face transfixed. Joshua asked Helenius if he was ok and if he had a problem with him, Helenius briefly replied that he didn’t as Joshua accused him of acting unnecessarily. There were no handshakes and a frosty departure of the pair as AJ appeared irked by his opponents frosty approach. 

Venue: O2 Arena, London, England
Promoter: Matchroom
TV: DAZN

Helenius replaces Whyte to face Joshua on 12th August at O2 London.

A red hot PPV attraction or not, the recently scheduled Anthony Joshua v Dillian Whyte bout did make a lot of sense. Joshua, Hearn et al appear to have exhausted all avenues leading to Fury and we’re viewing a victory over Whyte as premium preparation for the muted Deontay Wilder fight that still appears to remain part of the short term plan. Whyte and Joshua both have 3 defeats since their first meeting and have 8 years of added maturity since their last meeting. The prelude to the fight seemed surprisingly civil making the fight appear more intriguing to the average onlooker. Unfortunately this past week the revelation dropped that Dillian Whyte’s Vada test sample had returned an adverse finding, causing a postponement due to the close proximity of the event. Many of his peers have been unforgiving in the days since the news dropped, Whyte had twice previously failed drug tests, notably in 2012 and 2016 when he tested positive to Methylhexaneamine and Dianabol respectively. Whyte has served a ban for the first offence and with such a huge opportunity resting on the Joshua fight, justifying the findings may prove an uphill battle for the Brixton man. With a week to go, Hearn and Joshua did release a press statement to clarify that they still intended to continue with the promotion and find an appropriate replacement. With 5 days to go rumours were running rampant with warhorse Dereck Chisora appearing as the clear front runner to face AJ on the 12th followed by IBF ranked Filip Hrgovic and US import Gerald Washington, both of which are scheduled to appear on Saturdays show. Tuesday 8th August brought us the revelation that Finland’s Robert Helenius would replace Whyte and save the highly publicised show. Helenius appeared on a high profile stage last October when he was starched in a round by Deontay Wilder in Brooklyn but more interesting, he scored a 3rd round knockout only 3 days ago over one Mika Mielonen in Finland. So Joshua v Helenius will feature at the O2 with an interesting chief support featuring former world title challengers Dereck Chisora and Gerald Washington, and tough IBF ranked Filip Hrgovic taking on the largely untested prospect Dempsey Mckean, both undefeated. It’s unknown as of yet if the show will be a paid Tv event but will be broadcast on DAZN globally.