Robert Helenius will be following Tyson Fury’s blueprint for how to defeat Deontay Wilder when he meets up with the ‘Bronze Bomber’ this Saturday night, October 15th, on FOX Sports pay-per-view at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight action starts at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Fury showed that if you lean on Wilder & maul him, his legs will tire out quickly, causing him to lose power on his shots. Helenius has similar size and enough ability to get the job done against Wilder, as long as he doesn’t get caught by one of his right hands.
It’s fair to say this is the biggest moment of Helenius’ career because if he can beat Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs), it’ll open up an opportunity to battle Andy Ruiz Jr in a WBC title eliminator.
The 6’6″ Helenius is coming into Saturday’s fight off of back-to-back impressive knockout wins over Adam Kownacki. In those fights, Helenius looked powerful and a completely different fighter than the one that lost to Gerald Washington, Derek Chisora, and Dillian Whyte.
“I’m really happy to get this opportunity, of course. I’ve been training and boxing for 25 years, and I’ve had my ups & downs. I feel like everything is connecting, and that’s why I’m here,” said Robert Helenius during Wednesday’s media workout ahead of his fight against Deontay Wilder on Saturday.
“I’ve probably told this many times before, but I probably shouldn’t have taken that fight because I was sick and took medication before the fight to take the fever down,” said Helenius about his 8th round knockout loss to Gerald Washington in 2019.
“I didn’t have a hard time bouncing back in the ring because I knew I wasn’t myself.
“It was different back then because he was preparing for a different fight, and I was preparing for a different fight,” said Helenius about his sparring with Wilder in the past.
“I was preparing for Kownacki, so I wasn’t training for him [Deontay]. Of course,” said Helenius when asked if he has some tricks for Wilder on Saturday.
“He’s powerful, yeah, but I don’t believe I’m without power. I think the hardest puncher was Lamon Brewster or the hardest puncher was Samuel Peter.
“I don’t tend to think in those terms because this is a completely new fight. He’s had one year to recover from that,” said Helenius when asked if Wilder’s loss last year against Tyson Fury took something out of him.
“Of course, people can change after fights, but I think he’s a warrior, and I think this is going to be a spectacular fight.
“Yes, I’m prepared to go 12 rounds if that’s what it needs, then I’m ready. I sparred with Tyson Fury in 2008 and 2009 when he was a young boy when I was up and coming. After that, I got a lot of injuries, and my career went a little bit sideways.
“It’s nothing intentional if I look like him. I want to look like myself,” said Helenius about his fighting similarly to Fury. “I had one guy I looked up to when I was growing up, and that was Lennox Lewis.
“Yes,” said Helenius when asked if he was surprised about Fury’s development. “A young soft kid, but back then, I didn’t feel like he got it, but after seeing him now, he’s good.
“I can’t give away too much, but he showed the key how to unlock,” said Helenius about his plans for Deontay Wilder.
