How can I win against Finneas in the fist fight?

I decided to try the Gwent tournament early in the game, despite that it was marked with a pretty high level. Unfortunately I found now why exactly a high level is recommended for this quest, and I'm stuck.

Finneas doesn't like to lose and starts a fist fight right after the game. As he's at a much, much higher level than me, I lost every time I tried it so far. I can't block all of his attacks, unlike with the much lower level opponents I fought so far in fist fights.

Any tips on fist fighting in general, or this specific enemy? I really don't want to abort the entire quest and reload due to this.

I managed to win this fight after a dozen more tries. The main difference to easier fistfighting opponents is the very fast punch he can throw, it's pretty much impossible to counter. The only way to deal with this is to constantly keep up a block.

What enabled me to win was realizing that even though you can't block a heavy attack, you can still counter it. I just kept up a block constantly to deal with the light attacks, and waited for him to do a heavy attack. Those are slow enough that you can easily counter them, and then hit him a few times.

Just dodge, way easier than blocking. Wait for him to swing, dodge, then fast attack twice. Then back off and rinse, repeat.

On the PC, hold the right mouse button to block the jabs. Then when he winds up for the big punch, tap the right mouse button. You won't see your counterpunch, but you'll see him stagger. When he does, hit him a couple three heavies, then back off and repeat. He won't throw those heavies if you're too close. But it seems no matter how far away he starts that heavy punch, a quick counterpunch (which you won't be able to see) will work.

I can second the dodge tactic, back up so he takes a big swing at you, counter, hit him with 2 quick punches, dodge backward, rinse, repeat. I just did it at level 13.

SPOLIER ALERT

Depending on the dialogue you choose, there may be a fight with 6 or 7 armed dudes and a boss like character. Luckily it takes place in a warehouse with some things you can climb on. The NPC with you can take out everything if you just get up and away from them. You can take pot shots with your bow/throw bombs/whatever. But you do very little damage if you do it at a lower level. Might as well just sit back and wait for NPC to take them all out.