ROBERT HELENIUS will be thrust into the limelight for one of the biggest fights of his career when he faces off with Anthony Joshua.
However, away from the ring the Nordic Nightmare leads a far more secluded lifestyle with his wife Sandra.
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Helenius, 39, has been parachuted in to fight AJ as a last-minute substitute after Dillian Whyte failed a drug test.
His social media pages typically show him in work mode in the gym or during fights.
However, there are odd glimpses of his private life.
And these rare insights lift the lid on long-term partner Sandra.
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Helenius and Sandra have been together for 17 years.
They have three children together aged 15, 13 and ten – who the boxer exclusively revealed to SunSport he had to face the wrath of after cancelling their family holiday for the AJ bout.
Like Helenius, Sandra is reported to be from Finland.
Sandra is often seen ringside for Helenius’ fights, though it remains to be seen whether she will make the trip to London’s O2 Arena for Saturday evening’s fight.
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Helenius was only in the ring LAST WEEKEND, beating Mika Mielonen in a 15th-century three-tower CASTLE located in Savonlinna.
The fight marked his return after being put of out action in just 40 seconds by Deontay Wilder last year.
But he had little time to celebrate the win as immediately a shock offer was presented in his changing room.
Helenius revealed: “Five minutes after the fight my manager came to me and said, ‘Do you want to fight Anthony Joshua next Saturday?’
“I thought, ‘Oh s***.’ I’m still sweating, had my wraps on. I didn’t know if I could fight. I said, ‘Give me five minutes to think about this.’
“Then five minutes later I said, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do this.’ This is what we do.”
Helenius has described the opportunity to fight AJ as an “opportunity to reclaim my dream” after admitting he had considered retirement.
And the occasion is not lost on him as he hopes to become Joshua’s nightmare.
He said: “I don’t know if this is the highest point in my career, it’s up there.
“I’ve been boxing for a long time, I knocked out Samuel Peters, Lamon Brewster, Sergei Liakhovich back in the day.
“I knocked out Kowanacki a couple of fights before the Wilder fight.
“So I can’t compare what one is the biggest, but this is up there of course.”
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He added: “When you have a really long thought about how your life is going and then it completely changes, for the better.
“I wasn’t thinking about this at all, I thought it would probably take up to two years to get back to this point. But, now I’m here.”
🥊 Anthony Joshua vs Robert Helenius: How to watch, UK start time, live stream details 🥊
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
