Despite being out of action for a year, according to BetMGM, Deontay Wilder is an 8-1 favorite to dispatch Robert Helenius from the Barclays Center on Saturday.
Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) has lost via stoppage in back-to-back fights against current WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Their October 2021 trilogy affair will go down as one of the best fights in the history of the division. After getting dropped and nearly finished in the third round, Wilder sent Fury to the deck twice in the fourth round and nearly finished the Brit off. Following that, each guy threw everything they had, including the kitchen sink, until Fury closed the show in the 11th round. The punishment Wilder inflicted would have finished 99 percent of the heavyweight division.
On the other hand, Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) is coming off back-to-back stoppage wins over heralded prospect Adam Kownacki. In the buildup to Saturday's tilt, one of the narratives has been that Helenius doesn't have a shot because of his stunning eighth-round knockout loss to former title challenger and Wilder opponent Gerald Washington in July 2019. Wilder and Washington fought in February 2017. For the first four rounds, Washington had things in control. But Wilder showed why his right hand is perhaps the most lethal shot in the sport when he sent Washington packing to retain his WBC crown.
Even though he's lost back-to-back fights and Helenius has looked impressive in his last two fights, everyone keeps guessing what round Wilder closes the show. Is Helenius being thought of as an afterthought? The case is there to be made and a fair one to bring up. If you think Helenius cares, think again.
"I don't really care what people think," Helenius bluntly told DAZN. "Credit comes when credit deserves it. I probably have to prove myself again. So it's not a big deal. When you work hard enough, people give you credit. When you do bad, you get bad grades."
When you hear those words come out of his mouth, unlike other fighters, it is actually believable because of his calm demeanor. Born in Sweden and raised in Finland, Helenius hasn't cared too much for the media and the opinions of others since he was in the amateur ranks, in which he had over 250 fights.
"I was 18, and we were in China for the World Championships, and I was an amateur," Helenius explained. "When I lost against the world number two fighter, and this was my first world championship tournament and in the senior division. I had really bad asthma, and I didn't have asthma medicine with me back then. I was leading this guy with 17 points after the second round. In the world championships back then, if you got 20 points more than the opponent, they stopped the fight.
"But I got my asthma attack in the third round, and I couldn't do really much. When my father threw the towel into the ring, when I went back home, the media wrote so horrendously about my fights that some boxing legends would turn in their graves if they would have seen this fight. The media wasn't even there. They didn't call up and ask what was the problem. That was pretty hard back when I was like 18 and trying to represent my country, and then my country just throws s— in your face."
The two Kownacki fights raised Helenius' profile tremendously to help him earn this opportunity against one of the premiere names in all of boxing. What he's accomplished to get to this point, and none of Wilder's past accolades haven't given Helenius the 'aw shucks, how did I get here' mentality. Helenius remains headstrong. He understands what lies ahead and knows there's a job to be done on Saturday night.
"I've been in this game a long time," Helenius said. "In 2009, 2010, I was boxing Lamon Brewster, Samuel Peter, and Siarhei Liakhovich. I have had a long career. I have over 250 amateur fights. I've been grinding all this time. So nothing comes as a surprise. I either do it or don't."