Deontay Wilder's comeback fight announced, fans say: "Should be booked against Francis Ngannou"

Deontay Wilder's return has been formally announced and fans are less than impressed with his opponent. 'The Bronze Bomber' is set to take on Tyrrell Herndon at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas, United States on June 27. It will be under the lesser-known Global Combat Collective promotional banner.

Unfortunately, based on the reactions on social media, X/Twitter in particular, the combat sports world is scratching its head over the matchmaking. The Global Combat Collective is a significant step below in public profile in terms of the promotions Wilder has competed for.

Moreover, his scheduled opponent is a fighter of little renown. Herndon, who is 37 years old, is 24-5, with 15 stoppages to his name. However, he has struggled mightily most of the times he's faced top-tier competition, and has never competed for a world title or any title, even regional, from the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO.

In short, he is a layup that Wilder is expected to run through, even in his current form. Fans, though, would rather see 'The Bronze Bomber' face a different opponent, with one tweet suggesting ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who moonlights as a boxer, as an option.

"Should be booked against Francis Ngannou, it's the biggest and most justifiable fight on the table."

Others, though, implored him to hang up the gloves.

"Bro needs to retire"

More fans, however, were in favor of him facing Ngannou, which is a fight he has teased before.

"Ngannou is probably the final interesting big name fight left for Wilder"

Unfortunately, retirement calls continued.

"He's washed and has no power. Time to retire"

A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:

Fan reaction to Deontay Wilder's next fight

Wilder will look to turn his luck around by scoring a much-needed win, at least so he can retire, if he so wishes, on a high note.

---

Deontay Wilder is on his worst career run

Deontay Wilder spent most of his career as an undefeated knockout artist with the touch of death in every punch. He even reigned as the WBC heavyweight champion, and had a stellar rivalry with Tyson Fury. However, that is where his decline began, with two back-to-back stoppage losses to 'The Gypsy King.'

Check out Deontay Wilder's most recent loss:

While he managed to bounce back from the two-fight skid with a knockout of Robert Helenius, he immediately went on another two-fight losing streak, getting outworked by Joseph Parker in a unanimous decision loss, before getting TKO'd by Zhilei Zhang. Now, he is 43-4-1.