Deontay Wilder is set to return to the ring next weekend, as he takes on Robert Helenius on October 15th, but concerns over the American’s weight has raised a few eyebrows ahead of his comeback.
Wilder weighed-in to his last fight, the trilogy bout against Tyson Fury, at a career-high 238lbs, under the guidance of new trainer Malik Scott. One year later and Wilder is on the verge of his ring return but is looking considerably smaller in frame.
The Express state how Wilder dismissed these concerns and stated that he and his team are not worried about his weight going into the fight.
“My weight is not going to be what we worry about in this fight or fights in the future. We gained a lot of weight in the last fight, but it was more about the expectations of seeing my body a certain way and I was interested in seeing my body frame in a certain way as well.
But at this moment in time, I’m going back to what I’m used to and what’s comfortable for me and what’s comfortable for my body frame and that’s going to be around the 220lbs or maybe under.”
The former WBC heavyweight world champion suggested that he and his team have learnt from their mistakes from the last fight, where they possibly became a little over-obsessed with being as powerful as possible.
“It was an experiment that I wanted to try and we did what we had to do to get the weight put on and that’s an experience in the history books from me.
The only way to become wise is applying knowledge to life and we’ve gained a lot of knowledge from that and now we know what to do leading forward.”
The lower weight makes sense considering how quickly Wilder seemed to fatigue in his last fight. Scott has clearly tried to go back to basics with the Olympic bronze medalist and reduce the reliance on Wilder’s ‘equaliser’ of a right hand.
If Wilder comes through Helenius this weekend we can expect his name to be mentioned in some potential mega-fights for 2023.