By Ian S Palmer
Former WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Alabama returns to the ring on Saturday, October 15th when he takes on Robert Helenius of Sweden in a 12-round bout. The fight from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York can be seen on Fox pay-per-view in North America and the FITE Network in the UK. Wilder last fought a year ago when he was stopped in the 11th round by Tyson Fury in their third meeting. Their first meeting in Dec. 2018 ended in a controversial draw while Fury stopped Wilder in the seventh round in their first rematch in 2020 to lose the WBC Title. Helenius stopped Adam Kownacki in the sixth round of their rematch last October after stopping him in the fourth round 19 months earlier.
The 36-year-old Wilder beat former champ Bermane Stiverne by unanimous decision in January, 2015 to claim the WBC title and lost it to Fury in his 11th defence. Before running into Stiverne, Wilder had stopped all 32 of his opponents including Malik Scott, Owen Beck and Audley Harrison and the Bronze Bomber will climb into the ring with a fine record of 42-2-1 with 41 Kos.
Wilder is a former Olympic bronze medalist who became the first American since Shannon Briggs in 2007 to own a portion of the heavyweight title when he beat Stiverne. Wilder is basically known for two things, which are his size and his power as he stands 6-feet-7-inches tall with an 83-inch reach and has stopped every man he’s faced except Fury and Stiverne in their first meeting.
However, he stopped Stiverne with a second remaining in the first round of their November 2017 rematch and dropped Fury in the ninth and 12th rounds during their draw in their first meeting and decked him twice in the fourth round of their third fight. Therefore, Wilder has dropped every opponent he’s faced as a pro even though Fury remained on his feet in the second bout.
Wilder now has 161 rounds of experience under his belt since turning pro in 2008 and his knockout ratio currently stands at a highly-impressive 91.1 per cent. Just six of his 41 KO victims made it past the fifth round. However, they were six of his last 12 opponents; Luis Ortiz (twice), Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas, Artur Szpilka and Chris Arreola.
So in general, Wilder’s fights are lasting longer than they were earlier in his career even though he destroyed Dominic Breazeale in 137 seconds in May, 2019. As for the ability to take a punch, Wilder was nailed by Ortiz in their first fight and by of course by Fury, but he showed showed resilience and a lot of heart in those battles. .
The 38-year-old Helenius was born in Sweden and fights out of Finland. He enters the fight with a record of 31-3 with 20 Ko’s and is a former European Heavyweight champion. He’s a solid heavyweight who wasn’t very well known outside of Europe until his two recent stoppage wins over Kownacki in America.
He’s owns a decent chin to go along with good power and can also put punches together with the best of them. He turned pro back in 2008 and has boxed 195 rounds since then. Along with beating Kownacki, his biggest victories have been against Dereck Chisora by split decision in 2011, stopping Samuel Peter the same year and halting Sergei Liakhovich four months later and Lamon Brewster in 2010.
His first loss was a sixth-round stoppage at the hands of Johan Duhaupas in April, 2016 and he dropped a 12-round decision to Dillian Whyte for the vacant WBC Silver Heavyweight Title in 2017. He was then stopped in the eighth round by Gerald Washington in 2019. Helenius stands just over 6-feet-6-inches tall with a 79-inch reach so gives up four inches in reach to Wilder and just a half-inch in height.
Helenius stopped Erkan Teper in the eighth round in 2018 for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Heavyweight Crown and captured the vacant WBC International Heavyweight Title in 2017 when he stopped Evgeny Orlov in the sixth round. Since turning pro after a fine amateur career, Helenius has also won the IBF International, WBO Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental and European belts and won the vacant WBA Cold Heavyweight Crown with his first victory over Kownacki.
He’s fought some pretty good opposition over the years in Brewster, Liakhovich, Whyte, Washington, Duhaupas, Peter, Kownacki and Chisora and also has wins over Michael Sprott and Sherman Williams. He definitely has enough power to do some damage as Kownacki can attest to and owns a current knockout ratio of 58.8 per cent.
Prediction…
Wilder Helenius are pretty familiar with each other as they’ve sparred several times and of course both have the power to instantly turn a fight around. Wilder may take his time or he could simply wade in and land as many heavy shots as he can before giving Helenius a chance to nail him first. It’s going to be interesting to see what Wilder’s tactics will be but if he shows the same heart and power as he did against Tyson he should come out the winner.
