The former heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) is ready for fight no.49 on Friday, June 27.
The 39-year-old "Bronze Bomber" will face Tyrrell Anthony Herndon (24-5, 15 KOs) at the Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas, on a Global Combat Collective event, titled 'Legacy Reloaded', broadcast on BLK Prime.
Wilder expressed his excitement about his return to the ring, when talking to Boxing Scene, "I’m going to feel incredible!
"My mind is back, my spirit is back. Physically, I’m back. Now I’m injury-free."
The Alabaman suffered from several recurring shoulder injuries that eventually led to corrective surgery.
"I was in pain 24 hours a day, but I still tried to have a regular lifestyle. You know what I mean? You can’t let it irritate you or bother you for the rest of your life. You have to be able to adapt to the pain and the situation and still have some kind of natural ability to get on with life.
"I’ve had two shoulder surgeries. It had been difficult for me in previous fights to continue with the injury. At least the last three or four years of my career, I had to do what I had to do. You know, I still had to go out and do what I wanted to do.
"I could have sat around for years trying to heal this shoulder. And anyone who knows anything about a shoulder injury knows that it’s one of the longest recoveries. And every time I raised my arm or threw my right hand, my arm and shoulder hurt."
Wilder reigned as the WBC heavyweight world champion from 2015 to 2020. By winning the iconic green and gold belt, he became the first American world heavyweight champion since 2007, which was the longest period in history without an American heavyweight world champion.
At 40-0 with 39 knockouts, Wilder fought Tyson Fury in 2018 and was held to a draw for the first time in his career. He was outboxed for a majority of the fight by the brilliant Brit, but two knockdowns saved the champion from defeat.
But in their rematch in 2022, Fury rushed Wilder to back him up for the first time to win by seventh-round stoppage. "The Gypsy King" then won their thrilling trilogy decider in 2021, via 11th-round KO.
Wilder then lost to Joseph Parker on points in 2023 in Saudi Arabia, then Zhilei Zhang stopped him with his Chinese power six months later in June 2024 in the same Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
He has lost four from his last five fights and hasn't been victorious for 32 months now.
His 46th opponent Tyrell Herndon lost to up-and-coming heavyweight prospect Richard Torrez Jr. in October 2023, but has since won his next three fights, culminating in winning the Texas heavyweight title, a belt previously held by Cleveland Williams.
The 37-year-old Texan has been a pro since 2015 and has won several other regional belts, such as ABF American West and ABF Inter-Continental heavyweight titles.
The San Antonio native hasn't reached the heights that Wilder has, but will be fully incentivised to join the likes of Fury, Parker and Zhang, to record the biggest scalp of his career.