Former WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder, secured a seventh-round stoppage over Tyrrell Herndon in the “Bronze Bomber’s” return to boxing last Friday night (June 27, 2025) at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who had to Google “Tyrrell Herndon.”
“I was off a long time getting myself back together mentally, physically, and emotionally,” the 39 year-old Wilder said after the fight. “It’s been a long road for me. It’s great to be back in the ring. I didn’t give the fans exactly what they wanted to see, but I’m just going to get better and better.”
His victory over the 37 year-old Herndon (24-6, 15 KOs) marked the first appearance for Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KOs) since getting obliterated by Zhilei Zhang in June 2024, part of a dreadful losing streak dating back to early 2020 that saw “Dr. Sleep” lose four of five.
That may explain renewed calls for Wilder’s permanent retirement.
“It was a tune-up fight, and Herndon turned up to get beat up and I think the referee knew it, didn’t he,” retired super middleweight champion, Carl Froch, said on his YouTube channel. “Wilder, what’s next for him, has he got a career left? He’s lost four of his last six fights, he lost twice to Fury, he then sparked (Robert) Helenius, but then he got battered by (Joseph) Parker and ironed out by Zhang so after that you kind of think to yourself, he’s finished, it’s all smoke and mirrors now. Everyone is thinking, is he back with that big punch?”
Wilder has an astonishing 43 knockouts in 44 wins.
“They want to see him get in there and throw the big knockout blow,” Froch added. “At one point he was 40 fights, 39 wins, 39 knockouts. At one point, literally everybody he’s beaten, he’s knocked out. He had that draw with Fury, and that trilogy with Fury just took everything out of him, he’s made a lot of money, it’d be nice now to see him probably just hang his gloves up and turn it it. I don’t like telling people to retire, but I like to give my opinion on when I think these fighters are done. I just think Deontay Wilder has had better days and now if he ends up fighting anybody with a pulse who can punch, he could be hurt.”
Wilder is expected to make his return to the “sweet science” in late 2025 or early 2026.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
