For those who missed it, I do recommend watching the entire fight between Robert Helenius and Sergei Liakhovich from Saturday afternoon in Germany, as it was one of the better big man fights of the year, but here's the finish for those who want to see it, or who want to relive it:
I've said countless times that I'm not a particularly big heavyweight boxing fan. Never have preferred the big boys to the smaller divisions. Probably never will. But we also had a discussion between the Povetkin vs Chagaev fight and this one in yesterday's live thread about the appeal of the heavyweights, and in particular the big guys who can be called home run hitters. I argued that one of the problems is that there aren't many true home run hitters in the division these days.
Now Robert Helenius might not be a special fighter. He might never be truly great, or a best in the world sort of guy. But in his last two fights, he's had troubles with former titlists Samuel Peter and Sergei Liakhovich, but he's knocked them both out. He seems to have good stamina, he's got good power, and he has been able to grind down his opponents and then get them out of there. And this was one hell of a finish for sure. Liakhovich had put in a very good effort in this fight, but was knocked down late in the eighth, and Helenius finished him off in the ninth. He did much the same with Peter. Now that's a guy I'll happily tune in to see. He's a finisher, and he just might be a home run hitter.