During the first round of the fight Saturday night, in Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder 36, caught a lunging Robert Helenius 38, with a short right hand to the face, sending “The Nordic Nightmare” to the mat.
Headlining the FOX Sports pay-per-view, the fifth time in his career at the Barclays Center, Wilder(43-2-1, 42 KOs) faced off with Helenius(31-4, 20 KOs) in the WBC Heavyweight Title Eliminator.
In a mostly cautious first round, in which Wilder only landed three punches according to CompuBox, Helenius thought he was on the attack by moving The Bronze Bomber to the corner.
Then Wilder caught a lunging Helenius with a short right hand to the face, knocking out The Nordic Nightmare. Referee Mike Griffin quickly halted the action 2:57 into the round.
"I set him up,” Wilder said after the fight. “I allowed him to reach and when he reached I attacked. It was a great fight. It's been a good camp for me. We worked to make this fun for me. We work at this so much that it can just become a job. We made it fun again. We put in over 700 rounds and it paid off tonight big time."
The Bronze Bomber also asked: "Who's next? I'm down for whatever. Whether it's Andy Ruiz, Oleksandr Usyk or whoever. I'm back."
This is Wilder's second reign as heavyweight world champion, and marks his first win since defeating Luis Ortiz via knockout in November 2019. He had two consecutive bouts against Tyson Fury and lost. Fury won via TKO in February 2020 and via knockout in October 2021.
WATCH the Wider vs Helenius fight highlights