WITH one knockout win since 2019, the quiver-inducing idea of staring across the ring at Deontay Wilder has become less terrifying for the current heavyweight crop. Now, Wilder is seeking to re-establish his ferocious power, plotting a patient yet explosive plan.
Regarded for years as the hardest puncher in the sport, Wilder, 43-4-1 (42 KOs), holds a knockout victory over each opponent that he has trumped in his professional career. Following a solitary points win in 2015, Deontay smashed away Bermane Stiverne in their rematch.
However, after losing his WBC heavyweight title to Tyson Fury in 2020, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ has struggled to land his equaliser and is currently on a run of four defeats in his last five contests.
Worryingly, 39-year-old Wilder has looked a shadow of himself in his two most recent outings, failing to even threaten Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang in notably one-sided beatdowns.
This weekend, Wilder goes back to square one, bidding to regain momentum and mount a charge towards the heavyweight elite with a comeback against Tyrrell Herndon, 24-5 (15 KOs), in Wichita.
Speaking exclusively to Boxing News, Wilder maintained his belief that he is the hardest puncher in the history of boxing, before outlining the importance of being patient both inside and outside of the ring.
“I’m just looking forward to going out there and doing what I know how to do. I am a knockout artist, that is just what I do. I am the hardest puncher in boxing history, that is just what it is.
“There is nothing that I hope that it counts on or that I pray that it [the opportunity to stop Herndon] presents itself, it is instilled in me. It is on me and in me.
“I just have to have that particular mindset at that particular time and night, and do what I know how to do, what I have been trained to do and what God has blessed me to do – whoop some ass and knock some people out in devastating fashion.
“I truly believe that I have been restored from a lot of things and only time will tell. I have withstood the hands of time, and I have patience.
“That is one of the things that has been most valuable to me, just patience, staying calm. Everybody has their due season, their due time, sometimes you just have to be patient and that I am.”
It remains to be seen whether Wilder’s patience would see him turn down lucrative fight proposals in favour of an incremental rebuild, but first, the Tuscaloosa tyrant must overcome Herndon in a simply must-win scrap tonight.
