Former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will return June 27 in a 10-round bout vs. Tyrrell Herndon in Wichita, Kansas, promoters Nelson Lopez and Joshua Chasse of Global Combat Collective told ESPN on Friday.
Wilder, 39, has won only one of his past five fights. He was brutally knocked out by heavyweight contender Zhilei Zhang in June and prior to that was routed by former champion Joseph Parker over 12 rounds.
Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) is 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. In the second bout, Wilder was stopped in Round 7.
Now, Wilder will look to notch his first win since October 2022 (a first-round KO of Robert Helenius) with this fight against Herndon, a 37-year-old journeyman from San Antonio with a record of 24-5 (with 15 KOs).
Herndon has won three fights since a second-round TKO loss to undefeated Olympic silver medalist Richard Torrez in October 2023. Herndon's last fight was a six-round split-decision in May 2024.
"This is Wilder's legacy reloaded, he's still one of the hardest punchers in boxing," Chasse said. "He's on the road back to becoming the heavyweight champion of the world, and this is the first step."
