By Dan Ambrose: Shawn Porter says Deontay Wilder has a lot to prove to himself and to the world this Saturday night in his fight against Robert ‘The Nordic Nightmare’ Helenius after losing his last two fights by knockout.
Porter feels that Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) has got to put in a good performance beating Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) for him to advance to the next level against perhaps Andy Ruiz Jr before he’s ready to take on IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Wilder looked emaciated today, weighing in at 214.5 lbs compared to Helenius’ 253.25 pounds at the weigh-in for their headliner fight this Saturday, October 15th, on FOX Sports pay-per-view at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
As Porter points out, the casual boxing fans aren’t familiar with Helenius, so they see this as a walk in the park for Deontay. In reality, this is a very, very dangerous fight for Wilder, and it’s closer to a 50-50 affair than the one-sided match-up that the casuals believe it to be.
There’s an excellent chance that Helenius knocks Wilder out and ends his career as a major player in the division. Obviously, it would be a downer for fans, but Wilder’s consecutive losses to Tyson Fury showed that he’s too flawed to be among the major players in the division.
“I’m excited to see him back. I think people may not know the ‘Nordic Nightmare,’ Robert Helenius, so they’re kind of looking past this fight and wanting to see Deontay in something a little more competitive,” said Shawn Porter to Fighthype.
“More than anything, Deontay has to fight past himself with some of the things he’s been through in the past. I think it’s going to be a really good fight, and again, Deontay has a lot to prove to himself as well as the world.
“No,” said Porter when asked if Wilder could work his way back into being a champion again. “Yes, he can, but no, he won’t. A guy in his position doesn’t need to work himself back into a world championship fight.
“He doesn’t need three or four fights to find his bearings and get back into a championship fight. He needs to have this fight, and I think one more dependent on how this one goes, and then it’s championship night.
“Don’t forget, you got Andy Ruiz out there. A fight between Andy Ruiz and Deontay Wilder; even though there’s no true belt on the line, but it’s a humongous fight. It’s a big fight in the heavyweight division for America.
So I think that’s a great fight for him, and it looks like it could be the next fight for him. After that would be the actual strap, and that’s something that he wants.
“I’m really interested and curious about a fight between Deontay Wilder and Oleksandr Usyk simply because of that right hand that Deontay has.
“Also, I personally think we’re going to see a different Deontay on Saturday night, one that can use both hands, move in, move out, move left, move right. That’s something that we haven’t seen Deontay put together before.
“In a lot of ways, I do think he’s going to be new. That’s the kind of Deontay Wilder that it’ll take to beat somebody like Oleksandr Usyk, who has a lot of speed. No, we haven’t seen big power out of him. Definitely, he’s not a heavyweight yet, but that makes for a really good fight. Someone that can run their hands in Oleksandr Usyk
“Someone like Deontay, of course; we need to see him tomorrow night, but if he can put one and two together, maybe a sharp hook, I think Deontay is going to be super, super sharp now, and I’m excited to see it,” said Porter.
