Deontay Wilder has no designs on boxing retirement after declaring he will fight three times a year until he turns 40.
The former world heavyweight champion was twice brutally stopped by Tyson Fury in their world title trilogy and took over a year out of the ring. He returns to action on October 15 against Robert Helenius in New York, and has now claimed that he wants to be active until he turns 40 in late 2025.
Wilder will compete once before his birthday this year, and then has three more years of three fights a year, meaning a further nine bouts in theory. He still has designs on becoming a world heavyweight champion, and will have been closely watching last weekend's unified bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.
"I only have until I'm 40, then I'm done," Wilder said at a recent open workout event. "I still want to continue my three fights a year, I'm young, I still feel great, when you have your happiness and your peace you're only building from there; it's never a downfall. "You're only just building from there and to have so much love around you and stuff like that is refreshing. Even when people think you're down, sad and out for whatever reason they have in their head I tell people 'I don't live for them, I live for myself'."
Wilder is still a fearsome puncher, having knocked out every one of his opponents except for Tyson Fury, whom he put down four times over three fights of a collective 30 rounds. He will be a huge favourite against Helenius, who as recently as 2020 was the WBA's top contender at heavyweight, and stands at 6'7".
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"My mind is unifying," Wilder continued. "Whatever route that takes me, whatever route it takes me to unifying is where I'm going. I'm not ducking or dodging anyone, never have and never will, everyone knows that and you know when you're fighting against me everything depends on it.
"I already know the business of boxing, it's not a sport to me, to call it a sport is really a masking agent to what it is which is a business and I handle that business accordingly. Within this business which I love, you can make a poor man rich and you can make a rich man poor.
"It's all about how you deal your cards, I love being able to motivate and inspire and change lives. Boxing has helped change my life three or four times in my life and now I'm sitting back on the end of it enjoying this ring while I want to motivate and help a lot of other fighters and other people on the outside of this ring."
