One KO Wonders: Steve Herelius

[BoztheMadman]

This is the first part of my new series of threads about boxers who are only known for one big knockout victory and who pretty much faded into obscurity soon thereafter. Such is the case with Steve Herelius, who today at the age of 48 is a bare knuckle brawler, but once was a cruiserweight contender and even briefly a world champion. He became that by stopping the favored former WBA champion Firat Arslan in a climactic fight in 2010. After losing to Yoan Pablo Hernandez in his first defense, his career unraveled and as he was already in his mid-30’s, he didn’t fight very long after that, retiring in 2013 after three more disappointing losses.

Steve Antole Severin Herelius was born 15 July 1976 in Paris, of uncertain Afro-heritage, possibly French-Guianese since he first fought there. He turned pro relatively late and was almost 26 when he had his first fight in 2002, which was at cruiserweight, but then he became a heavyweight and won the French Federation title by UD against Antoine Palatis in December 2003. He was 14-0 when he faced the Polish heavyweight hopeful Albert Sosnowski on 8 June 2007 in Motherwell, Scotland and got stopped by TKO7. He soon returned to cruiserweight and on 5 March 2009 beat the favored Jean Marc Monrose by MD in Paris. They fought again on 27 June that same year, this time in a WBA eliminator semifinal and Monrose got injured and had to forfeit after 10 rounds. Herelius then decisioned the solid Czech contender Lubos Suda later that year, which then led to him receiving a crack at the interim WBA belt against former champion Firat Arslan.

Arslan was the heavy favorite despite being inactive for a year and nine months after losing the full WBA title to Guillermo Jones and by TKO. The fight was in Stuttgart, where Arslan was based and everything seemed to be loaded in his favor against this rather unknown strongman from France. On the night of 3 July 2010, the two duked it out and Herelius was hurt and in trouble in round seven, but Arslan was unable to finish him off. As the late rounds came, Arslan looked increasingly tired while Herelius looked in good shape. He also had a height advantage of 2 inches and yet came in weighing about 4 pounds less than Arslan. In round 11, the unexpected happened-as Arslan was lunging forward, he was hit by a big right uppercut and looked seriously hurt. He then just stood there with his guard up and didn’t throw a punch for the rest of the round. He had to be helped back to his corner and that was it-Herelius had won by corner retirement before the last round and was now a world champion! 
 

Unfortunately, that is where the fairytale ends for Herelius, nicknamed CENTURION. After winning one non-title fight versus Roman Kracik by UD8 in Paris on 30 October, 12 February next year he again had to go to Germany to defend for the first time against the new big name in the division-Cuban born Yoan Pablo Hernandez, a 6’4 destroyer. Hernandez, younger by 8 years and taller by 2 and a half inches, proved too much for Centurion, as he took control after a close few early rounds and sent Herelius to the canvas in round 7 with a counter left after Herelius missed with his swinging left. As he rose, he seemed to have injured his right leg. The action resumed and Hernandez then hit him with a barrage which sent him down again and Steve Smoger waved it off. This spelled the end of Herelius’ success. He came back on 27 October 2012 and fought against then-promising contender Dmytro Kucher in his native Ukraine, capital Kyiv. After doing well in the first round, he was first hurt by a right to the head and left to the body, before being knocked out with a follow up right and left combination. He was again absent for a year before fighting Santander Silgado on 1 November 2013 in his native Colombia, Cartagena, and again getting stopped in 2 rounds. His last fight came less than two months later, on 30 December in Messe, Germany, against Albanian Nuri Seferi. He was disqualified after seven rounds, for unclear reasons, possibly hitting on a break more than once in what was a case of bad refereeing. Thus ended his career at the age of 37. His record is 21(15)-5-1. 
 

Steve Herelius was a physically strong and muscular specimen, but a typical come forward slug it out brawler which lacked a good defensive ability and finesse. He managed to get the better of Arslan in a fight which obviously came too soon for Arslan, but still you gotta give Steve his credit for being able to stop a tough guy like Arslan. Hernandez was simply too young too prime and too good to lose to Herelius. The long layoff at 35 to 36 obviously hurt Herelius’ career and when he came back he was obviously reduced and his punch resistance seemed to go down. But the fighting saga didn’t end there for him, as he came back in 2021 as a bare knuckle brawler and won his first fight before losing the second. According to the BKFC site, his height is 185 cm (6ft1) and reach 205 cm (81”). In the end, what is certain is that this guy made the most of his talent and is a ONE KO WONDER!