By Craig Page: Robert Helenius plans on making former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder regret having chosen him as his tune-up opponent on October 15th.
The big-punching Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) is confident that he’ll send Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) down for his third consecutive defeat when the two meet in the main event on FOX Sports pay-per-view at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
This is Helenius’ big chance to put himself in a position to challenge for a world title against champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. The 38-year-old Helenius’ goal is to become a world champion before he hangs up his gloves in the next two years.
Wilder used Helenius as his sparring partner to prepare him for his trilogy match against Fury last October. Unfortunately for Wilder, he came up empty, losing to Fury by a eleventh-round knockout after gassing out early in the contest.
“I think I have to be more aggressive and push forward and have my reaction time better than ever,” said Robert Helenius to Fighthype, when asked what he must do to defeat Deontay Wilder.
“I must have my conditioning to keep my concentration and be alert at all times in 12 rounds. I think it’s going to be a tough fight. I don’t see him as an easy opponent. Like I said, he’s a top fighter, and he’s shown that in previous fights.
“I’m coming into this fight and giving everything because my dream has always been to be a world heavyweight champion, and I’m going to do everything in my power to become that.
“In the beginning, it was like ‘Oh man’ because we had good sparring sessions, and we talked afterward and had similar thoughts on life & stuff like that. Of course, but this is a sport. You have to be aggressive and turn emotions off when you go to a fight like this.
“I can’t say it’ll affect me. I have a lot of experience and a lot of downfalls. This has been a long run for me, but I feel I have a couple of years to give all I have in this sport still.
“Four or five years ago, I found a new love for this sport, and I’ve been going since then at full speed. You mean, when I win this fight. I’ve never been a guy that calls out other guys and is cocky and trashes other people. That’s never been my style.
“I won’t plan anything until I win this fight. So, I’ll have my full 100% concentration on this fight, doing everything in my power to win it.
“It was a good fight all in all,” said Helenius about the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua II rematch last weekend. “It was much better from Joshua than I expected. He’s good at adapting from one year to another.
“So he made a better fight, but Usyk was still moving and had the better shots. It was a good fight all in all. I would love a fight against him [Usyk]. Of course, he’s a world champ and also a really good boxer and southpaw, and he beat Joshua two times in a row. I could see me beating him, yes.
“Of course, if he’s still in the game, I would take that fight [against Tyson Fury] immediately. I hope they [Joshua and Usyk] keep fighting and making boxing great like it has been for ages now.
“Probably at the beginning of October, two and a half weeks before the fight, so I get the time difference and a couple of sparring sessions in the in the states, and I get everything going there as it’s supposed to be,” said Helenius when asked when he’ll arrive in the U.S for his fight against Wilder.
