I don't think it was a dive. Helenius was out when he hit the canvas, maybe he came to and didn't want to continue. But Helenius ain't Chris Farley, there is no way he could go down like that and not brace himself if he was taking a dive. The more logical explanation is he has zero punch resistance left and that shot was enough to put him down and out.
You're right about the stiverne fight but technically he did hurt spilzka and in the second stiverne fight means he didn't do it every time out but he did it to everyone he faced.
Wilder knocked the guy out with a blow that didn't look full force. Big deal, punchers like Shavers and Foreman knocked fighters out with what looked like glancing blows. The shot that Foreman ended Moorer with looked less powerful than the Wilder blow in question. All three of those guys were humongous punchers, they didn't have to hit dead on or with full force to knock you out. This excessive Wilder hate is embarrassing.
I'm no Wilder, or even a pro boxer, but I do have power. You don't even need to connect with the full impact of your first to drop someone if you hit hard enough. I once sparred a guy and clipped him with a check hook. It was literally only my pinky knuckle grazing his chin and he went down (I know because I felt the impact there and nowhere else in my hand for a good 30 seconds). It was a flash knockdown and both of us were confused chuckling and he got up at the count of 2 without much damage.
You would think Helenius was some amazing 60-0 gold medalist, PPV star attraction in his prime the way people are doing mental gymnastics to discredit Wilder. He was a decent contender and a big guy with decent skills, but he was fairly old, struggled with some injuries, and had been stopped multiple times before by guys who don't hit half as hard as Wilder. What is the issue here? I don't get it. This was a relatively safe opponent for a guy who came off 2 losses, but not complete trash. Helenius has a respectable enough resume to sell the fight having recently derailed the Kownacki hype train and being a big modern sized guy at 6'6 and 250+.
Tua on Moorer looked quite innocuous too and Moorer was completely laid out. If that was a dive then Helenius did a hell of a job selling it with the eyes rolled back and the stifness. That aspect of it was quite like Ruiz vs Tua.
And we both know Tua was a monster puncher. I also don't think Helenius quite saw it coming, he seemed to in the middle of an aggressive plan with no concern over a sneaky Wilder right. A very bad, fight-ending tactical move on his part. He was OUT...I don't seem to remember any acting credits on Helenius' resume. He got KTFO, and that's it.
This thread is entertaining. We got all kinds of forensics, sports biomechanics, video analysts, body language, & historians presenting evidence from all sides, if I was ever in any trouble I'd like to have these forum experts & lawyers on my side. Concerning Helenius - how in the heck could you spar extensively with Wilder while probably take some big shots, knowing his tendencies and power then come in so reckless, clueless, and shitty chin in the air like that and get obliterated by an arm punch? It's not safe for this dude to be out there until he gets some chin reinforcement augmentation, or rubber beard chin strap or something. What if he picked up a toddler to play with and the kid playfully swung at him, or he got into it with some teen girls on the street and they swung back. That's a potential KO at anytime. Well, at least he now passed the glass chin test to be a Wilder trainer, I expect him to be the 3rd man it the corner soon.
Good post. I think someone before me said this: helenius has been boxing since he was 5, he is now 38. His punch resistance has gone down drastically. He should retire before he gets seriously hurt. It happens to the best, too much punishment over ones career. From a decent chin to packing white China!
Every dive expert knows, you can't sell a dive properly without bouncing the back of your head full force off the canvas. You have to make sure your head lands before your butt, for maximum believability. This content is protected It's not as easy as you think to override your natural reactions and bounce your own head off the ground, Helenius had to practiced this a few times in the gym but he sure nailed it in the fight.