Wilder 'Felt A Little Sluggish, A Little Heavy' In 3rd Fury Fight; Will Be In 220s For Helenius
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BY KEITH IDEC
Published Thu Oct 06, 2022, 08:24 AM EDT
Deontay Wilder was determined to add muscle mass before his third fight against Tyson Fury.
The former WBC heavyweight champion came in at a career-high 238 pounds for that showdown last October 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Despite that he stands 6-foot-7, the Tuscaloosa, Alabama native never officially weighed more than 231 pounds prior to last October 8.
In hindsight, Wilder considers that approach a mistake. He plans to weigh somewhere “in the 220s, maybe under” for his first fight since England’s Fury knocked him out in the 11th round, a 12-rounder with Finland’s Robert Helenius on October 15 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“Weight is not gonna be what we worry about in this fight or fights in the future,” Wilder said during a virtual press conference Tuesday. “You know, we gained a lot of weight the last fight, just [because] of others’ expectations of seeing my body a certain way. And, you know, I was interested in seeing my body frame in a certain weight as well. But at this moment in time, I go back to what I’m used to and what’s comfortable to me and what’s comfortable with my body frame. And that’s gonna be around maybe in the 220s or maybe under.”
Wilder wanted more weight on his frame to better deal with the sheer size and strength of the 6-foot-9 Fury, who out-weighed him by 42 pounds the day before their rematch in February 2020. Fury wore Wilder out by grappling with him and leaning on him in their second meeting, which resulted in a one-sided, seventh-round, technical-knockout loss for the ex-champion at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Added pounds didn’t benefit Wilder as he had hoped in his third fight with Fury, who weighed in at a career high of 277 pounds. Wilder floored Fury twice during the fourth round and appeared on the verge of regaining his WBC belt, but Fury dropped Wilder three times – once apiece in the third, 10th and 11th rounds – and viciously knocked him out.
“I felt a little sluggish, a little heavy,” Wilder said. “I mean, you gotta understand, I never been 240 ever in my life before. But it was an experiment that I wanted to try and we did what we had to do to get the weight put on there. And, you know, that’s an experience up in the history books for me. So, you know, the only way to become wise is apply knowledge to life. And we’ve gained a lot of knowledge from that and now we know what to do leaning forward.”
Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs), though 6-foot-6, has typically weighed in between 235 and 250 pounds for his fights over the past five years. His fight with Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) also will be Helenius’ first fight since last October 9, when he stopped Adam Kownacki (20-3, 15 KOs) late in the sixth round of their rematch on the Fury-Wilder undercard.
Wilder, 36, and Helenius, 38, will headline a four-fight FOX Sports Pay-Per-View show ($74.99).
at this being PPV
