US boxer Deontay Wilder (L) knocks out Swedish-Finnish boxer Robert Helenius in the 1st round of their 12-round WBC World Heavyweight Title Eliminator fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on October 15, 2022. (Photo by TIMOTHY A.
CLARY / AFP)Former world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder made a spectacular triumphant return after a year-long layoff, knocking out Finland’s Robert Helenius in the first round on Saturday.Wilder stopped Helenius after two minutes and 57 seconds with a powerful right hand punch to the face, improving the American’s record to 43-2 with one drawn and 42 KOs.“It was a great night,” Wilder said.Wilder, his back against the ropes, answered a combination with a short but solid right to the nose of Helenius, who fell to the canvas on his back as Wilder walked away, his night complete after three punches.“I had to take my time.
I was making him reach,” Wilder said. “I wanted to be mobile, agile and hostile. I set him up, allowed him to reach and then when he reached, I attacked.”Doctors rushed to the 38-year-old prone Finnish fighter, who slowly rose to his knees.
Helenius, a former Wilder sparring partner whose record fell to 31-4, eventually departed the ring under his own power.A week shy of his 37th birthday, Wilder climbed into the ring for the first time since an 11th-round knockout defeat to Britain’s Tyson Fury last October.