'Deontay Wilder is back,' says former champ after quick KO on return

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New York, October 16: Deontay Wilder ended his return to the ring inside the first round with a swift knockout of Robert Helenius in Brooklyn and then claimed he had brought back "excitement in the heavyweight division".

The former WBC champion had not fought since back-to-back defeats to Tyson Fury, the second coming last October.

But after just over a year away, Wilder made light work of underdog opponent Helenius, who was knocked down by a trademark big right hand with seconds left in the opening round.

Wilder had outlined this week his desire to land "the number one fight in the world" against Anthony Joshua, but he was open-minded about his next task following the defeat of Helenius.

"I'm down for whatever," Wilder said. "Andy Ruiz, [Oleksandr] Usyk or whatever. Deontay Wilder is back. The excitement in the heavyweight division is back."

Wilder enjoyed himself on his return at Barclays Center, adding: "We wanted to make this fun again.

"You can do this so long it can be a job, just something you are doing. We made it fun. It paid off big time."

The defeat of Helenius, his former sparring partner, saw Wilder improve to 43-2-1 with 42 knockouts.