Deontay Wilder sends damning message to Oleksandr Usyk after ‘no show’ at Helenius fight | Boxing | Sport

Deontay Wilder was not best pleased with Oleksandr Usyk after the Ukrainian ‘no showed’ his fight with Robert Helenius. The unified heavyweight champion was expected to be in attendance for The Bronze Bomber’s return to the ring but was nowhere to be seen.

Wilder rebounded from consecutive stoppage losses to Tyson Fury with a brutal first-round knockout over his former sparring partner Helenius. Coming into the fight, there had been a lot of talk about Usyk vs Wilder after negotiations to stage the undisputed fight with The Gypsy King faltered.

Usyk said that he was open to fighting the winner of tonight’s blockbuster showdown and that he would be ringside for the contest, but this promise was not fulfilled. 

Taking to the mic post-fight, Wilder said: “I’ve been hearing about Usyk, I see he ain’t even in the building or is he? You know most of the time when people say they want me and then they come to a show of mine and they see a devastating knockout like that they turn a corner on me. So, I’m down for whatever, whether it’s Andy Ruiz or Usyk, let’s bring it on.”

He added: “It’s amazing to be back in Brooklyn, this arena is like a second home to me. Brooklyn! What’s up baby?

“It just feels so good to be back baby, when I came off the plane and set my foot on the ground I felt great energy. I felt the love, I felt the support and that’s all I needed. So when I stepped in the ring I felt the same thing and I knew it was going to be a great night and it was for me.

“He’s being a big inspiration for me, a big motivation for me, this is my brother, these are my brothers and I love them so much and it”s been a good camp, all my people around me, we wanted to make this fun again. You can do this for so long until it just becomes a job, it something that you’re doing, we just had to make it fun again, we put over 720, 730 something rounds and paid off tonight.

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“I just appreciate all you people coming out for the love and support. I hope all of you guys get home safely, we gotta spread more love out here, there’s nothing wrong with showing love to each other, hug each other, tell someone that you love them and mean it.

“Look at them in the eyes and mean it. There’s so much hate in this world and we need to change that, as the people we can change that.”