Deontay Wilder will return to the ring on December 23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ending a 14-month absence following his first-round victory over Robert Helenius.
Wilder will face former WBO world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker and, if successful, will most likely fight former unified world heavyweight champion and long-time rival Anthony Joshua.
However, Wilder has to manoeuvre past Parker to make a highly anticipated fight with Joshua a reality, following almost a year of protracted negotiations alongside Joshua, unable to produce a fight between the pair in 2023. Joshua will feature and headline on the same bill in Riyadh and will face Otto Wallin.
Speaking to Instant Casino, Wilder has warned Parker that if he attempts to walk him down, that tactic will play into his hands, drawing a prediction similar to his brutal first-round knockout victory over Helenius.
“If Joseph Parker tries to walk me down, there are two words for that: Robert Helenius. We knew each other very well, but my style had changed a bit from when we sparred. He wasn’t used to me being a mover. He was used to me sitting there, fighting fire with fire. When I switched it up, it knocked him off his game, which caused him to change his game plan up, and he started lunging at me, trying to walk me down, and the first right hand I threw it knocked him out.
“If Joseph Parker comes out and fights fire with fire, he will be playing a dangerous game when it comes to me because of the power I have. Because when I come to punch, I punch through you, not just to you. It will be exciting to see his game plan, but when he feels the power the first time, his game plan will change. I’m looking forward to knocking him out, we were meant to fight many, many years ago, but he ran from me.”
Wilder, who is deep into his preparations, gave an insight into how he transitions mentally into the well-known hard-hitting heavyweight, which has been his trademark throughout his career. Wilder reveals that it is a mental transition as the weeks pass by till he transitions mentally ‘into a killer.’
“It’s a crazy feeling when you change from regular you to a fighter. You go through all this training, all the sparring and all you’re talking about is hitting, and you’re causing damage to your sparring partners - over time, it accumulates in your mind - I’m training to be a killer. It changes the mindset. It’s a feeling that I enjoy having. It’s a crazy feeling to have knowing you’re a dangerous man, you’re a walking weapon, and in any given moment of time, you can bring harm and damage and danger to anyone,” Wilder said to Instant Casino.
“My mindset at this moment and time in camp when I’m like this is: I get more aggressive, I get more of an aggressive attitude, I’m easily aggravated, I’m real serious when I’m deep in camp, and my mind has changed, knowing I’ve got a mission to accomplish. I like the adrenaline rush from it. And I’m looking forward to releasing that feeling on the night of the fight. It’s not trapped inside, and thank God, I don’t want to walk around every day of my life like this. Ready to just whoop someone.”
