Heavyweight Tyrrell Anthony Herndon says he doesn’t feel any pressure in advance of his showdown with former titleholder Deontay Wilder. Instead, he considers it a blessing.
Herndon will face Wilder in a 10-round main event Friday at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. The bout will stream on PPV.com.
Herndon, 24-5 (15 KOs), is in a unique spot. The show is built around Wilder, who has lost four of his past five fights dating back to 2020. When asked at the final pre-fight press conference whether he felt pressure to perform, Herndon, a 37-year-old from San Antonio, put things in perspective.
“When you consider this a blessing, there is no pressure,” Herndon said. “Everybody has a story, and I won’t sit here and even try to tell you mine. There is no pressure.”
Herndon is an unlikely suitor to face Wilder, but that also makes him the perfect opponent at this point. The past two losses for Wilder, 43-4-1 (42 KOs), came on big stages, at the hands of Joseph Parker in 2023 and Zhilei Zhang (in a brutal knockout) last June. Herndon has fought on televised cards, but none of those bouts matched the magnitude of PPV fights and headliners that Wilder has under his belt.
Still, Wilder, a 39-year-old from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has some questions to answer in this fight – including one big one: Does he still have it? Herndon feels fortunate that he will be the man to help get to the heart of the matter.
“When I was working a shift at a warehouse, not enjoying life at the time, I would run home to watch Wilder on the weekends do what he did,” Herndon said. “You fast-forward 15-plus years, and I got the opportunity to where people are going to run home and watch me. It is all a blessing.”
Herndon has been stopped in four of his five professional losses, with the other defeat being a disqualification loss to Brandon Glanton. He was most recently stopped by prospect Richard Torrez Jnr in 2023. Herndon is currently riding a three-fight win streak with a split decision win over previously unbeaten Rudy Silvas in May.
For a hard-luck fighter, being the main event on a pay-per-view is a victory in and of itself. Tomorrow will determine what Herndon does with it.
“There is no pressure,” Herndon said. “This is all beautiful. I am just blessed to be here, and I am looking forward to it.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
