It's not a bad fight if it comes to pass. I would wet myself if Helenius folded Wilder like a deck chair. Half this forum would be on suicide watch as the Wilder Fury narrative completely unravels......
Good match-up, but I don't like how the PBC keep shelving these fighters. Helenius won the rematch against Kownacki on the undercard of Wilder v Fury 2. Have they just been keeping Helenius in cold storage for IF/WHEN Wilder wanted to make a come back? As I say it's a good match up, but it's another year of inactivity for both of them, when really Helenius should have been looking to get a title shot with the WBA lined up by now. Helenius won his WBA title eliminator in March 2020 FFS. Then the PBC put him on ice and made him run it back against Kownacki, October 2021, 18 months later! Now they have shelved him for another year to be Wilder's come back opponent?! Shocking from the PBC. I can only assume Helenius is super happy with it all
Look.... of course Wilder will be favored to win here. But that being said... this just seems like an odd choice of opponent for Wilder. Why would you choose a big guy that can KO you too as your first fight back, in a lose lose fight? If Wilder goes in and sparks Robert, nobody will care. And if he doesnt... who knows what he has left after Fury beat him half to death... twice. There could be something there for Robert to exploit and now what. And for what. Idk... for someone with such a risk averse career, just seems like an odd time to choose a KO puncher. But anyways... it's an interesting matchup.
Nice. Helenius is still a live fighter. No way this goes this distance, props to Wilder, super brave guy.
Robert Helenius is the WBA #2 contender. He's also a PBC fighter. Wilder hasn't really been rated by the WBA for the better part of a decade after he won the WBC title seven years ago and Wilder has basically been committed to that org. Beating Helenius would put Wilder at or near the very top of the WBA ratings. Wilder is also the current WBC #2. (There is no WBC #1 contender at the moment.) So this would basically be a fight between the WBC and WBA's top rated contenders. Usyk has said he only wants to fight Fury and Wilder after the Joshua rematch. This gives the winner of Joshua-Usyk II (and WBA champ) bargaining power with Fury. (If you don't negotiate fairly, I'll just fight Wilder ... kind of thing.) Anyway, that's a reason for fighting him. We'll see, though. Lots of buzzing because Frank Warren said he "heard" something. Last I checked, Frank Warren wasn't involved in Helenius or Wilder's career choices. Although, Warren may have heard it because Daniel Dubois, as the WBA regular champ, will likely be forced to fight the winner of a Wilder-Helenius fight ... if the Usyk-Joshua winner goes with Fury. Of course, if Helenius scored an upset, with Wilder being the #2 WBC contender, it also gives Helenius a very high WBC rating and the option of fighting Fury for the World title.
Great post. Thats whats wrong with boxing. Helenius took the big money fight with wilder cause he knows he hasnt got the time to wait for his Wba title shot which happens in 2025 im just guessing lol