Deontay Wilder will return to heavyweight action as he looks to get his first win following back-to-back defeats.
Wilder will take on Tyrrell Herndon on June 27th as the ‘Bronze Bomber’ searches for another trademark knockout.
The former world champion’s last win came when Wilder stopped Robert Helenius in the opening round of their 2022 bout. However, the impressive highlight was followed by losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.
Herndon will be aiming to add more misery to Wilder’s recent form, however, the former Tyson Fury rival is a significant favorite going into the bout.
Legendary coach Teddy Atlas has offered his insight ahead of Wilder’s return this weekend.
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Teddy Atlas doesn’t foresee a vintage performance from Deontay Wilder, but sees defeat for Herndon
Speaking on his YouTube channel, The Fight with Teddy Atlas, the legendary coach previewed Wilder’s upcoming comeback fight.
“If you want to come back from devastating knockout losses, if you want to come back at a late point in your career after you’ve been obviously losing fights, which is what Wilder and his people want… You go to a place where you can get just what you want… ‘I want a guy available to build my confidence back up’.
“You get a guy that’s been knocked out. You get a guy who’s available. You get a guy that you don’t have to look for… You get that guy,” Atlas added.
The coach said that Wilder and his team ‘got the right guy’ in terms of his matchup with Herndon “to get confidence back.”
Following this, Atlas did mention that ‘anything can go wrong’ in the fight. “I don’t know what Wilder has left. That’s the only thing that’s left to a little bit of finding out.”
Despite questions being raised by Atlas, he did ultimately predict Wilder to emerge victorious in his fight on Friday. However, unlike many others, the coach does not see a first-round knockout from the ‘Bronze Bomber. Instead, Atlas believes Wilder will win in the third round as he feels the fighter ‘may be tentative.’
Tyrrell Herndon has been knocked out in the first round on two occasions
If Wilder were to knock out Herndon in the first round, he would be the third man to do so.
Herndon was stopped in the opening round by Efe Ajagba in what was the victor’s debut in 2017. Two years later, Corey Barlow also stopped the fighter before the end of the first.
All of Herndon’s losses have come by way of stoppage as he has a 24-5 record. Four of these losses have been via knockout, while the heavyweight was also disqualified in a 2018 bout.