According to the man himself, a 2025 stoppage of the unheralded Tyrell Herndon (in round seven) should mark the start of his fighting prime. Only now, Wilder said, is a late-starter like him truly able to show everything he has learned to date and display in the process a maturity and understanding he might have lacked during his run as WBC heavyweight champion. The many defeats he has recently suffered are, to his mind, not red flags or indications he should perhaps stop. They were instead lessons. Nothing more, nothing less. They happened, these lessons, in order to make him sharpen up, tighten up, and work harder. That is precisely what he has done, too, he claims, as yet another big opportunity somehow appears on the horizon in the shape of Oleksandr Usyk. However, only in bigger fights against bigger names will we know for sure whether a 40-year-old version of Deontay Wilder is the best version of Deontay Wilder or merely the version best equipped to sell damaged goods in a time of desperation.
