After back-to-back poor performances, it seemed as though former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder could walk away from boxing for good. Instead, Wilder will return to the ring on June 27 to take on Tyrrell Herndon in Wichita, Kansas, Global Combat Collective announced on Friday.
After going undefeated in his first 43 fights, capturing the WBC championship and successfully defending the belt 10 times, Wilder has lost four of five. The first two losses came against Wilder’s biggest rival, Tyson Fury. Wilder got back in the win column with a first-round knockout of Robert Helenius in 2022. The Helenious knockout was Wilder’s 42nd in 43 career victories.
In December 2023, Wilder had a chance to get back into the title picture when he faced Joseph Parker. Wilder, who had never been a big volume puncher, only landed 39 punches over 12 rounds en route to a unanimous decision loss.
In his most recent fight, Wilder was again largely passive, never landing more than five punches per round against Zhilei Zhang en route to a fifth round TKO loss.
Wilder is taking several steps down in level of opponent by facing Herndon.
“This is Wilder’s legacy reloaded, he’s still one of the hardest punchers in boxing,” promoter Joshua Chasse told ESPN. “He’s on the road back to becoming the heavyweight champion of the world, and this is the first step.”
Herndon has lost five times in his career, four of those losses coming by knockout. His most recent loss came when he was knocked out by Richard Torrez Jr. in October 2023. Herndon rebounded from that loss with three wins over low-tier opposition, including a split decision win over Rudy Silvas in May.
Read the full article here
