Tuscaloosa native Deontay Wilder ready to fight the best ahead starting with Robert Helenius

Tuscaloosa Native and former Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder explained why he took on a fight with Robert Helenius as his first fight in over a year.

Wilder and Helenius will meet Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York in a WBC World Heavyweight Title Eliminator match. The main card starts at 8 p.m. CT on Fox pay-per-view.

Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) believes that Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs) is coming off some of the best fights of his career. Helenius is on a stretch of four straight knockout wins, including a win on the undercard of Wilder-Fury III in Las Vegas last year.

"The reason I agreed on this fight is because he's been on a winning streak, and has been looking great. This is for the WBC eliminator. If I'm going to come back in it, why not fight the best and fight someone worth fighting for? I don't have long, I only have three more years up in this business and I'm ready to fight the best and willing and ready to do whatever I have to do to make it back to the top."

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While Wilder and Helenius are friendly outside the ring, with Helenius serving as a sparring partner in previous camps, Wilder won't be taking the friendship into the ring on Saturday.

"Although we're sparring partners and respect each other highly," Wilder said. "Understand the beast will come out come Saturday night. People don't got to worry about well they're friends or he said he loves him or all that, it's going to be fire come Saturday night."

Wilder hasn't fought since losing to Tyson Fury in the 10th round by knockout in the third fight of the series in October of last year. Wilder had contemplated retirement but decided against it when a statue was unveiled in his hometown.

Wilder was the former WBC Heavyweight Champion of the World, making 10 successful defenses of the title. He is the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in boxing.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Deontay Wilder vs. Robert Helenius: Wilder ready to fight the best