Deontay Wilder felt “a little sluggish, a little heavy” when he came in at a career-high 238 pounds for his third fight against Tyson Fury.
The former WBC heavyweight champion made an adjustment accordingly during his recently completed camp to make sure he’ll feel as close to his old self as possible when he boxes Robert Helenius on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The 6-foot-7 Wilder stepped on the New York State Athletic Commission’s scale Friday morning at 214½ pounds, 23½ pounds lighter than what he weighed the day before Fury knocked him out in the 11th round of their third championship match last October 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Wilder’s weight Friday was more in line with what he weighed for his first fight against Fury (212½ pounds) in December 2018 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Wilder floored Fury twice, but that bout resulted in a 12-round split draw.
The 6-foot-6 Helenius out-weighed Wilder by nearly 40 pounds Friday. Helenius officially weighed 253¼ pounds, still much lighter than Fury when he defeated Wilder 53 weeks ago (277 pounds).
The 12-round bout between Wilder, 36, and Helenius, 38, will headline a FOX Sports Pay-Per-View show. Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs), of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is listed by most sportsbooks as an 8-1 favorite to beat Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs), of Mariehamn, Finland.
The official weights for the entire Wilder-Helenius undercard are listed below.
FOX Sports Pay-Per-View ($74.99)
9 p.m. ET; 6 p.m. PT
Caleb Plant (21-1, 12 KOs), Ashland City, Tennessee, 167¼ pounds vs. Anthony Dirrell (34-2-2, 25 KOs), Flint, Michigan, 167¾ pounds, 12 rounds, super middleweights.
Frank Sanchez (20-0, 13 KOs), Guantanamo, Cuba, 247¾ pounds vs. Carlos Negron (25-3, 20 KOs), Villalba, Puerto Rico, 244½ pounds, 10 rounds, heavyweights.
Gary Antonio Russell (19-0, 12 KOs, 1 NC), Capitol Heights, Maryland, 116½ pounds vs. Emmanuel Rodriguez (20-2, 13 KOs), Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, 117¾ pounds, 12 rounds, IBF/WBA bantamweight eliminator.
FS2
7 p.m. ET; 4 p.m. PT
Vito Mielnicki Jr. (12-1, 8 KOs), Roseland, New Jersey, 153½ pounds vs. Limberth Ponce (19-5, 11 KOs), Rock Island, Illinois, 153½ pounds, 10 rounds, junior middleweights.
Michel Rivera (23-0, 14 KOs), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 134½ pounds vs. Jerry Perez (14-1, 11 KOs), Oak Hills, California, 135 pounds, 8 rounds, lightweights.
Gurgen Hovhannisyan (3-0, 3 KOs), Yerevan, Armenia, 275½ pounds vs. Michael Coffie (13-2, 10 KOs), Kissimmee, Florida, 297½ pounds, 8 rounds, heavyweights.
Non-televised fights
4:30 p.m. ET; 1:30 p.m. PT
Michael Angeletti (6-0, 5 KOs), Spring, Texas, 124½ pounds vs. Jeremy Adorno (7-0, 3 KOs), Allentown, Pennsylvania, 125¾ pounds, 6 rounds, featherweights.
Geovany Bruzon (7-1, 6 KOs), Holguin, Cuba, 239¼ pounds vs. James Evans Jr. (4-0-1, 4 KOs), Toledo, Ohio, 231½ pounds, 4 rounds, heavyweights.
Keeshawn Williams (9-1-1, 2 KOs), Lanham, Maryland, 144 pounds vs. Julio Rosa (5-1, 2 KOs), Orlando, Florida, 141 pounds, 6 rounds, welterweights.
Miguel Roman (2-0, 0 KOs), Philadelphia, 123¾ pounds vs. Jose Negrete (2-0, 2 KOs), Hanford, California, 122 pounds, 4 rounds, junior featherweights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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