This weekend, former world heavyweight champion American Deontay Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) returns to the ring in the WBC Candidates match against Robert Helenius (31-3, 19 KOs) from Finland. For Deontay, this will be the first performance since last October, when he suffered an early loss to Tyson Fury for the second time.
And if he had a frank dislike for Fury, now he has the warmest feelings for his opponent.
Wilder spoke about the difference the day before in an interview with PBC:
“I have a meeting with a tough opponent, whom I really respect and love as a person. This is a completely different fight compared to when you feel hostility towards someone. It doesn’t change the action or the fact that there can only be one winner, but it does make the fight a lot more interesting. And when you win, you want to hug your opponent, like, “Dude, thank you so much for sharing your energy with me on this fight night.”
“Helenius has the heart of a warrior, no underestimation,” Deontay also assures us before the fight.
- Deontay Wilder – Robert Helenius: prediction and bets for the fight on October 16