by Pawel Pronishev

Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland - Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius (17-0, 11 KOs) saw no problem with his twelve round split decision over Dereck “Del Boy” Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs). Helenius captured the vacant European heavyweight title, but many people felt Chisora had done enough to win the fight. Two of the judges saw 115-113 for Helenius, but the third judge had it 115-113 for Chisora.

Helenius said he hurt his right hand early in the fight and that prevented the possibility of a knockout victory. He felt Chisora was hurt a few times in the contest.

"I thought I won. When I punched him he was hurt, many times. I couldn't finish him. It hurt like hell, my right hand. We have to check on it. I knew that he was going to come at me from the start. We were prepared for that. You saw from the first round, he was hurt many times [in the fight]. My right hand broke. I can feel it, it's broke. What can I say? I felt that he got really hurt, but I couldn't finish. [My right hand] hurt like hell. A boxer is never complete. He can learn many new things. I know I could have won more clearly," Helenius said.