- American boxer Deontay Wilder is one of the hardest-hitting heavyweights in history.
- Knocking out Artur Szpilka in 2016 made him think he'd taken the Polish boxer's life, he said recently.
LAS VEGAS — Deontay Wilder returns Saturday to the Barclays Center to fight Robert Helenius in a heavyweight boxing spectacle that airs on Fox Sports pay-per-view.
It is a venue Wilder knows intimately, having bludgeoned four opponents there already.
Though Wilder recently suffered back-to-back defeats to Tyson Fury, he's punch perfect in fights at the marquee Brooklyn arena.
But there's one Barclays Center knockout that Wilder continues to think about because it left him thinking he'd killed his opponent, Artur Szpilka, in 2016.
"I always think about this when they talk about what's the best knockout I've had — it still lingers," Wilder told Insider and other reporters last month.
'I thought I took his life'
"Artur Szpilka, when I hit him, I thought I took his life," Wilder said.
He described "the scariest thing of all" was "seeing a guy with all good intentions, good hype for the fight, who want to serve his country" react to the knockout shot in the way that he did.
See Wilder's 2016 Knockout of the Year contender right here:
Wilder's recent comments are an apparent contrast to what he's said before about wanting to "catch a body" on his record.
During an appearance on The Breakfast Club morning show on Power 105.1 FM in 2018, Wilder said: "I want a body on my record. I want one, I really do."
He went on to talk about the two sides of his personality. There's Deontay, the human, he said. And then there's the 'Bronze Bomber,' who is the boxer. Wilder said it's the 'Bronze Bomber' who wants that body on his record.
"He wants one," Wilder said on the radio show, according to ESPN. "I always tell people, when I'm in the ring … everything about me changes.
"I don't get nervous. I don't get scared. I don't get butterflies. I don't have no feelings towards the man I'm gonna fight."
He apologized for his remarks at the time.
Now, though, he seems to think differently about opponents ahead of fight night.
Before a recent 25-minute workout with no break, Wilder told reporters: "I look to admire my fellow fighters."
He said: "Fighters will risk our lives for others' entertainment. And there's no way around it because when we step into that square ring that's exactly what we're doing.
"People look at this business, and they want to sport in front of it and think it's something pretty and nice. It's the total opposite. It's a monster."
Wilder once prayed a fallen opponent got back to their feet
It's not the only moment Wilder's been concerned about an opponent after he's separated them from their senses.
In 2013 — before he'd even challenged for the WBC heavyweight championship, which he won in 2015 — he blasted past Siarhei Liakhovich so violently that he celebrated raucously.
Moments after celebrating, though, he said he paused as it dawned on him that Liakhovich may have been in a bad way, and needed a little longer to recover.
"When I hit him, I saw him going down, and I just went to my neutral corner," Wilder said, according to The Ring, when recalling a finish that left Liakhovich twitching.
"I knew that it was over because my corner was telling me that it was over when he fell down, so I was all happy and celebrating."
See Wilder's 2013 Knockout of the Year contender right here:
—Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) August 9, 2021
When Wilder looked up at the big TV screen at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, his smile, he said, turned "into a frown."
Wilder suddenly felt concerned, he said, and worried "because that was a scary moment."
He even began to pray.
Liakhovich did recover but needed to stay overnight in the hospital to do so.
"Just to see his eyes roll into the back of his head, and him going into a seizure like that, a concussion as well … that was scary," Wilder recalled. "Very scary."
Wilder wants to create 'more memories' at Barclays Center
Wilder will be yearning for a fifth consecutive knockout win at an arena he's consistently performed well in.
Determined to rebuild his career from back-to-back losses to Tyson Fury in 2020 and 2021, Wilder told Insider he's motivated by numerous things — including a desire to reclaim the world heavyweight title.
"I want to get the other belts that I never had," he said. "And be a role model and inspiration, to show how you get back up and do things.
"People get tired of the winner," said Wilder. "Sometimes in life we have to build our way up in a cruel world. It's never easy to get to the top."
As for his "most memorable moment" at the Barclays, that, for now, remains the immortal Szpilka knockout.
On Saturday, atop a Premier Boxing Champions on Fox Sports show, he wants to do it all again.
"I'm looking forward to making more memories there," he said.