DEONTAY WILDER will snub retirement and return to face Tyrrell Herndon in a heavyweight clash on June 27th in Wichita, Kansas.
The American is coming off a devastating knockout defeat to Zhilei Zhang in June, having lost on points to Joseph Parker six months prior.
Both defeats meant Wilder squandered the chance to finally face Anthony Joshua and many thought it left his career in crisis.
But according to Ring Magazine, the former WBC champion will continue fighting with a return bout set against fellow American Herndon.
Herndon has won three fights since a second-round TKO loss to undefeated Olympic silver medalist Richard Torrez in October 2023.
The 37-year-old journeyman has a 24-5-0 record (with 15 KOs).
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And his last fight was a six-round split-decision against Rudy Silvas in May 2024.
Herndon has always admired Wilder and was even a fan of the Bronze Bomber.
He posted an old fan picture of the now fighting pair on Instagram last week, writing: “Manifesting idols become rivals eventually…..”
Pay-per-view platform BLK Prime are believed to be behind the Friday night fight in the Midwest.
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Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) has won just one of his last five.
The 39-year-old suffered a shock unanimous defeat to Parker and was knocked out clean out in five rounds by Zhang.
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Wilder was in line for a super-fight with Joshua, 35, last year with Saudi Arabia’s boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh fronting the money.
A deal was already signed but the script was torn up after Parker, 32, secured a shock points victory.
Wilder went radio silence following his consecutive losses but broke cover in November to confirm his desire to fight on.
He told TMZ: “The best is yet to come. I had a lot of outside distractions that I had to get rid of.
“I took care of a lot of people and it got to the point where I couldn’t do it anymore.
“I’ve got seven kids of my own, I can’t take care of everybody. Even the closest ones to me, I’ve been betrayed so many times.
“It’s been a domino effect for the last five years. The thing about betrayal is it’s worse than heartbreak.”
Wilder is still regarded as one of the heavyweight division’s most fearsome punchers ever.
His championship trilogy with Tyson Fury was memorable.
Despite going 0-2-1, Wilder floored Fury twice in each of the first and third meetings.
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But the American was stopped in Round 7 in the second fight.
Now, Wilder will look to notch his first win since October 2022 (a first-round KO of Robert Helenius).
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
