Deontay Wilder made his long-awaited return to the sport on Friday night.
The 39-year-old from Tuscaloosa, Alabama stopped countryman Tyrrell Herndon in the seventh round of their non-title heavyweight showdown at the Charles Koch Arena in Wichita.
It was Wilder’s first ring appearance since he suffered a devastating fifth round knockout defeat to Zhilei ‘Big Bang’ Zhang in Saudi Arabia last June, making it four losses in his last five outings.
JUST IN: Terence Crawford Admits He Can’t Compete At Canelo Alvarez’s Weight In Resurfaced Clip
The former WBC heavyweight champion has received criticism following his performance against Herndon, with fans and analysts expressing their disappointment towards the 39-year-old despite him walking away with a stoppage victory.
Speaking in the post-fight press conference, Wilder outlined his future plans after his comeback win, as he admits he will ‘take his time’ but is ‘getting calls to have this big fight’.
“We got a plan that we had set for this whole year and we gonna stick with it.
We’re getting a lot of calls to to do this, to have this big fight, when you’re in the heavyweight division you’re always one fight away from a title fight and we just wanna push it we wanna take our time just like I did tonight.
I took my time and we’re gonna do it with the return as well, just taking our time, continue doing what we need to do until we feel like we’re ready to take it back over again.”
Next up for Wilder could be a showdown with two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who also finds himself at a crossroads in his career after suffering a big setback against IBF champion Daniel Dubois last September.
