Deontay Wilder visited Robert Helenius backstage last night and seemed to apologise after devastatingly knocking the Finn out in the first round.
A video uploaded by ESNews shows Wilder coming into the ‘Nordic Nightmare’s’ room and repeatedly saying sorry whilst the two shared a warm embrace.
“I love you bro. I’m sorry!”
Helenius seemed to hint at retirement as part of the conversation too.
“I have to say, I’m out. I’m 38 years old, I’ve been doing this for 35 years, but thanks for giving me the opportunity to fight man, I appreciate you.”
Wilder went on to praise Helenuis.
“I appreciate you so much man, you’re a part of where I am right now. I love everything you’ve done. I appreciate you so much from the bottom of my heart.”
Wilder knocked Helenius out cold with one of his stereotypical right hands at the end of the first round at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York after a full year of inactivity following his knockout loss to Tyson Fury in their iconic trilogy bout last October.
In terms of whats next for the ‘Bronze Bomber’, he failed to call out Anthony Joshua post fight even though talks of a potential matchup had been circulating during fight week. AJ is likely to face a top 15 ranked opponent in December/January after suffering back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk.
Wilder did however mention both Andy Ruiz Jr and Usyk.
”I’m down for whatever, whether it’s Andy Ruiz, or Usyk or whoever. Lets bring it on.
Deontay Wilder is back. The excitement in the heavyweight division is back. There’s no heavyweight division without Deontay Wilder.”
Ruiz has made his intentions clear that he wants that fight and it’s rumored that the WBC are likely to call Wilder vs Ruiz as a final eliminator for Fury’s heavyweight title, which could take place early next year.