Via Allan Fox: Coach Malik Scott is refining Deontay Wilder’s combo punch and further developing his left hand to make it a weapon he can use against Robert Helenius on October 15.
Wilder’s final opponent, Tyson Fury, shows that he lacks a backup weapon to go with his deadly right arm. To be fair, if Wilder had a left hook and right hand, he would have had a chance to beat the ‘King of Gypsy’ last October.
For Wilder’s comeback contest with Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs), it’s important that he has a full arsenal of punches that he can knock down if he can’t score a knockout with right hand.
Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) needed an impressive win over Helenius to increase his chances for a lucrative fourth fight with Fury or a title fight against IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usik.
Losing to Helenius would jeopardize Wilder’s title chances against Fury or Usyk, and possibly even Anthony Joshua.
Deontay has always looked good in training, so it’s hard to tell if he’s improved for the fight against Helenius. It’s one thing to have good hitting pads, and it’s completely different when it comes to fighting opponents.
“Who will Fury fight if the battle with Usyk doesn’t happen?” Steve Cuningham told Fighthype. “He must send [Robert] Helenius home with a pillow let me say, “Wilder is back,” Cunningham said of Deontay Wilder’s next fight for him to make a case for the fourth contest against Fury.
“I know Malik Scott is there coaching, helping him get some techniques right. If you [Wilder] got in there and won decisively in the 12th round, and Wilder was boxing his wits, so okay, that’s also an enhancement.
“If he looks the same and it comes to a decision, nah. I need to see what kind of Wilder we’re going to fix. Those are some serious problems in Fury fights. “
Cunningham did not say what he meant by his comment about Wilder’s likely lookalike. Lately that means he could lose to Helenius as he lost his last two fights by knockout to Fury and he hasn’t won a single since 2019,
