Wilder: 'I don't get paid extra for overtime, so fight will be interesting but short'

“I just hope that after what I show on Saturday, I don’t scare Usyk too much and next year we will have a fight,” states Deontay Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) before the fight with Robert Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs).

If he wins, the Bronze Bomber will secure a WBC heavyweight eliminator with Andy Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs), but he is more concerned about the meeting with Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), the IBF, WBA and WBO world champion .

“I hope Usyk will keep his word and we will meet soon. Together we will put on a great show,” continued the ex-champion of the World Boxing Council, who sat on the throne for more than five years and successfully defended the title ten times.

“I am well prepared for this fight, and I intend to draw energy from the fans. As always, I will give them my best in return. However, no one pays me overtime, so I will try to finish this duel as soon as possible. I want to continue the knockout streak until the end of my career. I try not to change anything, but to improve what I already have. And meet the best. I am looking for challenges, so I will be glad to meet with Usyk after this fight. I am glad that he should be in the stands. I know Helenius well, we sparred together many times, and I know that he, like me, will give his best. It will be a great fight, but not necessarily a long one. I would like to finish him before the end of the third round, but this does not mean that I underestimate him. He stands in my way before the championship fights. I don't have much time anymore and I'm going to fight three times next year," Wilder added.

“After this fight, we are only interested in big names. Not Andy Ruiz or Frank Sanchez, but Oleksandr Usyk or Anthony Joshua. We want to regain the world title and then unify all the belts,” said Malik Scott, once a rival, and today Wilder’s coach.