Deontay Wilder returns to the ring this Saturday against heavyweight fringe contender Robert Helenius at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It is a fight ‘The Bronze Bomber’ is likely to win. Helenius is decent but usually gets shown up at the highest level. Wilder is a former WBC heavyweight champion who has just taken Tyson Fury to the limit. It’s fair to say this one should be straightforward for comeback kid Wilder.
But the road back is not always simple for a fighter such as this. Wilder is a consummate knockout artist who won his championship and defended it ten times with a series of intimidating performances. Fear factor was not the sole contributor to quick wins over the likes of Bermane Stiverne, Luis Ortiz and Chris Arreola, but it surely played its part. Wilder compiled a 42-0-1 record with 41 knockouts before tasting his first defeat. People didn’t just lose to the puncher, they rarely survived him.
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But we know Wilder is there to be shot at now. Fury has stopped him twice, the second of their three fights being particularly one-sided. The third match was more competitive but also more brutal, with Wilder in particular taking untold punishment. These are the sort of fights that leave scars beneath the surface. Fighters like Helenius aren’t usually the ones who expose them but, invariably, they are always eventually laid bare.
Mike Tyson found that out to his detriment. History’s most feared heavyweight just about kept his aura intact when James ‘Buster’ Douglas splattered him over a Tokyo canvas. But after Evander Holyfield exposed his frailties in 1996 and his psyche in 1997, he was never the same man. Lennox Lewis, Danny Williams and Kevin McBride represented the steadily declining scale of heavyweight that was able to iron out ‘Iron’ Mike as his once-glorious career came to a halt.
Sonny Liston was Mike’s predecessor in many ways, a devastating puncher from whom a young ‘Kid Dynamite’ took inspiration. To his credit, he did keep winning after Muhammad Ali wiped the floor with him on two occasions. But these victories were at a lower level than he was accustomed to and a 1969 knockout loss to unspectacular Leotis Martin was the beginning of the end.
But it’s not all bad news for Wilder. Some of history’s finest punchers have put the pieces back together after chastening defeats. George Foreman is the prime example of not only rejuvenated knockout kings but of sporting comebacks in general. ‘Big’ George was knocked out by Muhammad Ali in the searing heat of Zaire in 1974. He was floored by Ron Lyle before getting up to win in his next bout. He was outpointed by Jimmy Young in 1977. The aura had evaporated and so too did George.
But Foreman returned to the sport a decade later. Bald, fleshy and with his customary sneer replaced with a warm smile, most expected him to be chewed up and spat out by the cut and thrust of the banner division. Instead, he made his doubters eat their words. Then he made them eat his lean, mean, fat-reduced food fresh from his patented grill. Foreman reached his zenith by knocking out Michael Moorer to win the heavyweight championship of the world 20 years after losing it to Ali in the Rumble.
Foreman was a freak and no fighter has pulled off that feat since. But Wilder can look to a more recent heavyweight king for some more inspiration. Wladimir Klitschko was a genetically blessed 24-0 knockout puncher when he met journeyman Ross Purrity in 1998. An 11th round knockout loss later and his aura was lost. But ‘Dr Steelhammer’ appeared to have put the reverse behind him, a fact he backed up with a five-year unbeaten streak and a WBO world title win.
But in 2003 Corrie Sanders scored The Ring Upset of the Year, KO’ing the Ukrainian in two rounds. Klitschko took two tune-ups in the aftermath, and hired legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward to fix the holes in his game. The effect was not immediate, with Klitschko losing another WBO challenge to Lamon Brewster by knockout the following year. But from then on, the lessons of Steward began to take.
Klitschko was transformed from an aggressive but reckless puncher to a clinical distance-boxer, using his immense reach to pick off opponents with his jab and keeping his worrisome chin out of trouble. He would not lose for eleven years between the Brewster defeat and his 2015 unanimous decision loss to Tyson Fury. This run saw Klitschko enjoy the second-longest heavyweight championship reign in history, during which he made 18 title defences.
Time will tell which Wilder we get upon his return. Will his opponents realise the emperor has no clothes, like they did with Tyson? Or will some adjustments in his game see ‘The Bronze Bomber’ surpass his previous achievements? The Helenius fight likely won’t give us our answer but eventually Wilder will have to answer these questions.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
