Notebook: Wilder excited to return against Helenius to begin road to second title

Adorno squeaks past Roldan in 'ShoBox' main event; update on Diaz-Zepeda; Quick hits; Show and tell

Sep 10, 2022

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Former WBC heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder has had his time off to rest, heal and regroup after his epic third fight with champion Tyson Fury in the 2021 consensus fight of the year in October.

Now Wilder, who dropped Fury twice in the fourth round but suffered knockdowns in the third, 10th and 11th in an 11th-round knockout loss, is ready for what he hopes will be a triumphant return one year later in a WBC semifinal title elimination fight with Robert Helenius, with whom he has sparred and is friendly.

They will meet in the headliner of a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view card on Oct. 15 (Fox PPV) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, home to past big wins for both fighters, and Wilder hopes it kick-starts his road to a second title reign.

“I’ve had a great career and now I’m back again for my second reign,” Wilder said during the recent news conference to announce the fight. “It’s amazing to reminisce about all the years and about how I got to where I am now. It’s been an honor. We had a game plan and we executed that game plan.”

It was an unusual news conference because while former super middleweight titleholders Caleb Plant and Anthony Dirrell, who will meet in a WBC title eliminator in the co-feature, were on hand at Barclays Center, the main event fighters appeared by video. Wilder missed his flight to New York and Helenius was always slated to appear via screen since he is training in his home country of Finland.

Nonetheless, the big men sounded ready for a fight that will line up the winner for a likely fight with former unified titlist Andy Ruiz Jr., who won the other WBC semifinal eliminator by decision over Luis Ortiz last Saturday, after which Wilder got in the ring and began talking up their possible fight. But first up Wilder has Helenius to deal with.

“We’ve put in over 400 rounds (between sparring, mitt work and shadow boxing) so far and training camp has been great,” Wilder said. “I’m trying to do something different with adding Don House to the (training) team working in Las Vegas. We wanted to change up some things, go more rounds and see what happened. This training sounds like it could be a lot on your body, but when you’re in shape physically and mentally, nothing is impossible.”

Said Helenius: “I’ve fought a lot of good opponents and had a long career so far. This is, of course, a big fight for me. I have respect for Deontay, but when I come to America, I’m going to give everything that I have. I’m ready to do everything in my power to win. I know what it takes to win at this level.”

Helenius (30-3, 19 KOs), 38, was written off by many following a shock eighth-round knockout loss to former title challenger Gerald Washington in 2019, but Helenius has won all three of his fights since, including back-to-back upset knockouts of Adam Kownacki, the second of which was last October.

“I’ve promised my fans in Finland that I would bring the world title back home and sometimes you have to go through a lot to get there,” Helenius said. “But I’m going to do everything I can. We’re doing all the extra work that we need to. This is a huge deal. All I’ve ever wanted is to get the chance at the world heavyweight title. That’s why I’ve continued to fight. If I didn’t see myself becoming a world champion, I would have stopped and found a much easier job to do.”

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Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs), 36, made 10 successful defenses during his 2015 to 2020 title reign, during which he drew with Fury in their first fight in 2018 and then lost the title by seventh-round knockout in their 2020 rematch. The second knockout to Fury followed and Wilder considered retirement. But after a statue unveiling of his likeness in his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in May, Wilder decided to continue.

“Getting a statue in my hometown let me know that there was more work to do,” Wilder said. “I have to continue to fight and motivate and inspire. This reign is going to be a special one, because it’s going to be dedicated to the people.

“I’m looking forward to Oct. 15 and sharing the ring with Robert. I highly respect Robert and his team. We’ve always had a connection, but unfortunately in this business, you have to go against each other sometimes. But make no mistake, just because we know each other, it doesn’t mean this fight won’t be interesting. Every time I fight, you’re on the edge of your seat. I know what Helenius is capable of doing and I know what kind of heart he has. He’s coming to bring his best and I always bring mine. This is a serious fight between two warriors in the heavyweight division. We’re coming to put it all on the line.”

Adorno edges Roldan

Junior welterweight Joseph Adorno narrowly outpointed Hugo Alberto Roldan in the main event of Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” card on Friday night at Bally’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey — the same site as the first edition of “ShoBox” on July 21, 2001.

Adorno (17-1-2, 14 KOs), 23, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who won his third fight in a row since moving up to 140 pounds following a decision loss to Michel Rivera in March, scored a flash knockdown with a left hook just as the second round was ending as part of his big start.

However, Roldan (21-1-1, 7 KOs), 29, of Argentina, who was making his United States debut, came back strong in the second half of the bout, which ended with Adorno winning 95-94 on all three scorecards.

“I feel like all the hard work I put in since I was a little kid is finally starting to pay off and coming all together,” said Adorno, who took the fight on four weeks’ notice after Shinard Bunch withdrew due to personal issues. “I did lose a little love for boxing for a while. But I’m proud. He was an awkward fighter. I took the fight on short notice. All the hard work pays off. I went through a lot in the ring tonight, as any fighter does. I hurt my hand. I got hit with a head butt that almost closed my eye. But I overcame it all. I got what it takes. I can hang in there with the top guys. Give me a couple more fights and I’ll be ready for anybody.”

Also on the tripleheader:

Featherweight Frency Fortunato (14-1, 10 KOs), 24, of the Dominican Republic, held off a late surge from southpaw Bernard Angelo Torres (16-1, 7 KOs) to win a split decision. Fortunato dropped the Philippines’ Torres, 26, in the fourth round and won 97-92, 95-94 on two scorecards. Torres won 95-94 on one card.
Welterweight Roiman Villa (25-1, 24 KOs), 29, of Venezuela, made a successful U.S. debut in a unanimous decision over Janelson Bocachica (17-1-1, 11 KOs), 23, of Detroit, winning 79-72, 79-72 and 78-73. Villa beat up Bocachica and dropped him with a right hand in the second round. Villa laid such a beating on him that he dislodged his mouthpiece five times, which resulted in referee Harvey Dock deducting a point the third time it happened in the second round.

BetUS Boxing Show

If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). Although the big women’s card in London was postponed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we previewed and picked the “ShoBox” main event between junior welterweights Joseph Adorno and Hugo Alberto Roldan. That fight has already happened by the time you read this but we also took an early look at the odds on next Saturday’s Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin III and took a bunch of viewer comments and questions. It was a fun show all around! Watch it here and enjoy:

New date for Diaz-Zepeda

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The 12-round lightweight fight between contenders Joseph “JoJo” Diaz and William Zepeda has been moved up to Oct. 29 (DAZN) and will take place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, Golden Boy announced.

The all-southpaw fight was initially penciled in for Nov. 5 but moved when the Dmitry Bivol-Gilberto Ramirez fight landed on that date. Then DAZN recently announced Diaz-Zepeda would take place Nov. 19 at a site to be determined. But on Thursday the date was changed again and the site set.

By moving the fight to Oct. 29 it means that Mexican middleweight contender Jaime Munguia (40-0, 32 KOs, who was initially penciled in to headline a Golden Boy card on DAZN against an opponent to be determined on that date at Pechanga Arena, will move to a new date.

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Former junior lightweight titleholder Diaz (32-2-1, 15 KOs), 29, of South El Monte, California, is coming off a decision loss to Devin Haney in a WBC lightweight title challenge in December; Haney went on to become the undisputed champion in June.

“I’m ready to put on a great performance for my comeback fight in front of everyone that will be attending in San Diego and who will be tuned in live on DAZN,” Diaz said.

Zepeda (26-0, 23 KOs), 26, of Mexico, has been scoring one KO after another, although his streak of 15 in a row came to an end on May 14 when he handily outpointed former junior lightweight titlist Rene Alvarado over 10 rounds.

“Now that my fight is formally announced to be in San Diego, I am looking forward to battling ‘JoJo’ Diaz in front of all the fans in that great city,” Zepeda said. “I have seen the crowds there, and they’re loud so I expect nothing less on Oct. 29.”

Quick hits

The WBC announced that MarvNation Promotions has made the required 10 percent deposit within the 10 days it was allowed after its shocking winning purse bid for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title bout between Jose Zepeda (35-2, 27 KOs) and Regis Prograis (27-1, 23 KOs) on Aug. 30. MarvNation, a Southern California club show promoter with no ties to either fighter and no experience in major fights, pulled the shocker with a $2.4 million winning bid to gain promotional rights to the bout. The $240,000 will go to the winner of the fight as a bonus. MarvNation easily beat bids of $1,260,050 by TGB Promotions, $1,060,000 from Prograis promoter Probellum and $1,004,500 by Zepeda representative Zepeda and has until the end of November to put the fight on.

The IBF has ordered flyweight titlist Sunny Edwards (18-0, 4 KOs), 26, of England, to make a mandatory defense against Felix Alvarado (38-2, 33 KOs), 33, of Nicaragua, the former IBF junior flyweight titleholder, who vacated the title last year and has won two fights in a row, including his first bout at flyweight in May. The camps have 30 days to make a deal or a purse bid will be ordered. It appeared as though Edwards would meet WBC counterpart Julio Cesar Martinez to unify titles after their reps discussed the fight in July, but when no deal was finalized, the IBF ordered the mandatory.

IBF women’s strawweight titleholder Yokasta Valle (26-2, 9 KOs), 30, of Costa Rica, rolled to a shutout decision against WBO titlist Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen (5-1, 1 KOs), 25, of Vietnam, to unify titles on Thursday night in Valle’s hometown of San Jose, Costa Rica, in the main event of a Golden Boy card on DAZN. Valle, in her first fight since signing with Golden Boy, won 100-90 on all three scorecards.

Show and tell

The first fight between the late legendary greats Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello is without question one of the best fights of all time. It is a fight I have obsessed over for decades and have gone to great lengths to acquire various items for my collection (but I’m still missing the poster, so hit me up in the comments if you have one to sell or trade!). That fight ended with Pryor knocking out Arguello in the 14th round at the Orange Bowl in Miami to retain the junior welterweight world title and deny Arguello from becoming the first boxer to win a world title in four divisions.

Ten months after their classic first battle — and with each man having interim bouts — they met again in a massively hyped rematch before 13,000 at the sold-out outdoor arena at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Although the sequel was another entertaining fight it was not nearly as memorable as the first encounter. Pryor dropped Arguello three times, in the first round, the fourth round and for the count in the 10th round of a fight he was winning on all three scorecards at the time of the knockout (87-82, 86-83, 85-83). Pryor again retained the title and again denied Arguello the historic accomplishment of becoming the first to win titles in four divisions. It ended with the memorable scene of a bloodied Arguello taking a tremendous series of punches and getting knocked to his rear end, where he sat battered on the canvas with his arms hugging his knees to his chest with a look of resignation on his face as referee Richard Steele counted him out. It was the last significant fight for Pryor and Arguello. It took place on Sept. 9, 1983 — 39 years ago on Friday. Here is a site poster in my collection.