A former world heavyweight champion has sent out a warning to the rest of the division ahead of his imminent return.
There are currently two world champions at heavyweight, with Oleksandr Usyk holding the WBC, WBA and WBO titles, while Daniel Dubois is in possession of the IBF belt.
The two men will meet on July 19 in an undisputed title showdown at Wembley Stadium, but prior to that a former long-time ruler of the division is set to make his highly-anticipated comeback.
Deontay Wilder hasn’t fought since suffering a knockout defeat to Zhilei Zhang in June 2024, making it four defeats in five fights for ‘The Bronze Bomber.’
Before that, he was the WBC heavyweight champion for over five years, and will now attempt to get back into title contention when he faces the unheralded Tyrrell Herndon on June 27 in Kansas.
Speaking ahead of his return, Wilder told The Ariel Helwani Show that the thought of hanging up his gloves never crossed his mind after his latest defeat.
“I never thought about giving up. I never thought about quitting. I never thought about retiring. These are all rumours and these are the things that people who don’t know anything be saying.”
Wilder then had a final message for his heavyweight rivals ahead of his return to action later this month.
“I’m glad to be here and glad to lead by example. The king has returned.”
One potential fight for Wilder if he is victorious in his return could be a showdown with former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, and Ricky Hatton has made his prediction for how that fight would go.
