By Craig Page: Deontay Wilder will be coming off a year-long break when he steps inside the ring this Saturday night against Robert Helenius at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The card starts at 9:00 p.m. ET on FITE TV, PPV.com, and Fox Sports.
There are a lot of questions about whether Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) can still take a punch after being stopped in the 11th round by Tyson Fury last October. It’s not just the physical aspect that some wonder about with Wilder.
Also, we don’t know how the consecutive knockout losses to Fury have affected Wilder mentally. Those were tough losses for Wilder to digest, and he hasn’t won a fight in three years since 2019.
In hindsight, Wilder should have taken a tune-up after his seventh round knockout loss to Fury in February 2020. It’s understandable why Wilder did take the third fight with Fury.
The money was too good for Deontay not to take the fight, but the negative was him suffering his second defeat. For Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs), this is a great chance to revive his career and put himself in a position to challenge Fury for his WBC belt.
If Wilder loses this fight, you’d have to think that retirement would be the logical choice for him.
PPV undercard:
- Caleb Plant vs. Anthony Dirrell
- Frank Sanchez vs. Carlos Negron
- Gary Antonio Russell vs. Emmanuel Rodriguez
“Speaking of Deontay Wilder, he returns to the ring against Robert Helenius. What are your expectations for Deontay after that brutal fight against Tyson Fury?” said Max Kellerman to ESPN.
“They had three fights, and there was a lot of brutalities that were dished out for both sides. Deontay Wilder took the worst of it,” said Andre Ward.
“The only questions I have for Deontay Wilder is what lingering effects, if any, will those fights hold over his psychological makeup and his physical body.
“We see weird things in boxing. One guy gets knocked out for the first time in his career, and all of a sudden, he can’t take a punch the same way. I’m not saying that’s going to be the case with Deontay Wilder, but you have to watch those kinds of things.
“In terms of his offense and in terms of his mentality, he’s going to be the same Deontay Wilder, and I believe he gets a knockout in this fight,” said Ward.
