Coming off two bad losses and a period of inactivity, Deontay Wilder has worked on himself to make improvements.

Aged 39 – and written off by many – the former WBC heavyweight champion returns in Wichita, Kansas on Friday night against Tyrrell Herndon in a crucial fight if he is to propel himself back toward his former glory.

The free-swinging former champion Wilder, who has knocked out 42 of his 43 victims, against four losses and a draw, has had a long-standing issue to his right shoulder resolved with surgery, and his equally damaged confidence – following defeats by Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker – addressed by a sports psychologist.

Those losses had Wilder questioning his future in the sport.

“I mean, I thought about retirement many times,” he told BoxingScene. “But with the Zhang and the Parker fight, it actually helped me in a lot of ways to analyze what the hell was going on with me. I wasn’t the same person. It wasn’t the same Deontay at all. There was a lot of shit going on with me at the time, inside and outside of the ring. I had to go get a sports psychologist. That’s how bad it got.”

Admitting he needed help was an important step, and one Wilder thinks many would be too proud to take – especially if they’d already built a back catalogue of success like his.
“But I’m not a man that runs away or is ashamed to admit or to explain certain things,” he said. “I had to go get a sports psychologist to get my mind back together, to get everything back together because of what was happening to me over and over, year after year after year – a domino effect. And you start seeing those things when those same ones that surround you, that always just said that looked into your eyes and said that they love you… And when they see you at a certain point, they feel like there's no more to gain from you – that’s when you see true colors. And then that’s when your real battle starts.”

The fights Wilder refers to have taken place in and out of the ring. He has, he said, trusted some of the wrong people, but that has also stiffened the resolve he is ready to display when he returns.

“So it’s going to make you a little bit tougher; a little bit meaner,” he explained. “You have a little bit more confidence. But in reality, it didn’t happen like that for me. And I couldn’t understand what was going on with me. I couldn’t understand certain things. And I can’t tell it all… but I want people to know I went through a lot. I did lose my confidence. And I never thought in a million years it would be me, Deontay Wilder, there’d be a man that’d say ‘I lost my confidence’. Because I was dealing with something way bigger, way bigger than putting on gloves and entering into a ring to beat the shit out of another man that’s in front of me. When I realized and I understood the problem, I went and found help. I went and found a solution. I didn’t wait. And I’m happy I did. Now we’re going to see these next outings.”

It all starts again with Herndon on Friday, and Wilder is fit and raring to go – and that is something he has not been able to say in recent times. He has had surgery to fix damage to his right shoulder – one that had limited the power and mobility in his most potent arm.

“I’m going to feel amazing,” he said of his emotions ahead of being back in the ring.” You know, my mind is back; my spirit.

“Physically, I’m back. I’m free of injuries now. They used to call me ‘Windmill Wilder’,” he said, lifting his right arm by his ear.

“I ain’t have that windmill no more. I got that motherfucker now. I’ve had two surgeries on my shoulders. It had cost me to still be injured at least the last three to four years of my career.

“I could have sat around for years to try to heal this shoulder up. And anybody know anything about a shoulder injury, they know that’s like one of the longest recoveries. Every time I lifted my arm, or threw my right hand, or even wiped my ass, my arm – my shoulder – were hurt. I was in pain 24 hours a day but still tried to have a regular lifestyle of living. You can’t let it irritate you or bother you for the rest of your life. You got to be able to adapt to the pain and the situation and still have some type of natural ability of carrying on with life.

“But having injuries, 24 hours a day, being in pain… I’m a true warrior, man. A lot of people don’t know what I had to go through and what I've been through.”

Wilder is confident that his surgically repaired shoulder and his new-and-improved mindset could unlock a bright future, even at his advanced age. He believes he has found the reasons behind his defeats but knows that on Friday he will find out.

“My next outing is going to be the measuring stick for a lot of things,” he admitted. “I’m coming to do what I’ve always come to do – whoop some ass.”

The brash Wilder is the one so many are familiar with. But away from the cameras, he is a different soul. He has found out who his friends are, and discovered that he doesn’t need many.

“I’m a loner – I’m a loner anyway,” he added.

“You feel me? I’ve always been a loner. My dad always stated to me when I was young, you don’t have no friends and don’t bring them in my house because he knew how human beings could be – how they gather around you and fake it ‘till they can see how much they can get from you. But as you show me love, I’m gonna show you love right back. So come here. Even we had to give a hug, bro. I love you, man. Some people need the affirmation of words and a hug. You know how much a hug does for a person – especially when they need the affirmation of touch and feel, women and men, especially the men, because we have to put on this persona of being tough.

“And I don’t understand that you only have to be tough and brave in times if it needs for that to be. And if your life consists of you having to be tough every fucking day of your life, you need to sit down and take an evaluation of your life and get your shit together. Because this life is short. This is not a promised life that we live. We’re not promised to get old and then die. That's not the concept of how this shit works.”

It was Wilder’s desire to provide for his daughter Naieya, who was born in 2005, that had him lace up the gloves for the first time.

She was born with spina bifida, and when Wilder was destroyed by Zhang in his past fight a year ago, many took solace from Wilder having more than lived up to the end of the bargain of providing for his daughter.

He lives on a 13-acre plot with his kids beside a picturesque lake, and Naieya is 20 – “growing up so beautifully” – having graduated from high school and going to college.

Will Wilder be interviewing prospective boyfriends?

“I don’t know about all that, man,” he laughed, before adding: “I love being a father. It’s an amazing gift that God has blessed me with. It’s just a beautiful feeling. I have every last one of my children here with me that I raise and it’s a great thing and although my daughter’s 20 and she’s grown and doing her thing she’s close to me and that makes me feel so good. They’re my babies; they’re my life. That’s why I’ve done all this for them. Even from the start, it started with Naieya and there’s six more added and I love being a father.”

And with the next generation provided for, Wilder insists his fight on Friday starts the next phase of his life, and it’s about what he can get out of it for himself.

“I don’t have to think about anyone else,” he continued. “My kids are well taken care of for the rest of their life – even if I die, for the rest of their life. Whatever comes now and in the future is the extra.” 

Wilder has lived in the public eye for more than a decade. He has been one of boxing’s biggest stars for years and built a huge following, but it is his time with his family and by the lake he enjoys the most.

“I’m not a man that's sitting and bragging and bullshitting,” he said. “You damn near never see me or see me post about anything. I’m just a private dude.

“I’m laidback. I don’t give a fuck about a celebrity status; being well-known. I don’t care if just one person in the world knows who I am.

“That’s just me. I walk differently. I talk differently.

“My grandmother said I was anointed by God that I wouldn’t be able to do what others do, go where other people go, see the world as others see it, and I don’t. If I was... shit, you’re talking about a dude that’s been an athlete all his life. I never hung around the football team. I never hung around the basketball team; the baseball team; with the track guys. You understand me? I always was still to myself, even while having other athletes or other team members offering certain things or to be around. I was to myself, and that’s how I always am. That’s how I always would be.”

While Wilder is throwing himself into his return, he remains unsure about whether his old rival Tyson Fury will come back – “I have no idea, that’s up to him” – and Wilder maintains his own goal is to become the undisputed champion. The idea of a fight with Anthony Joshua also appeals to him more than ever, and that is the one the promoter of Friday’s event, Nelson Lopez Jnr, is aiming for.

Herndon is, supposedly, a baby step for Wilder. The world will see what is left. Wilder believes he has plenty to give, but he also knows that Friday will reveal answers to his questions that he will be unable to get from behind closed doors.

“I’m telling you, there’s been a lot of previous times that I’ve spoken in trying to build confidence, especially in the last two fights, to try to build the confidence back in me, thinking that I could get it back in the gym, or if I hit the bag longer or beat the shit out of sparring partners,” he concluded. “I’m building that confidence back up. But in the midst of it, it’s draining out of me because of other shit [in the business] that’s going on… I just lost my confidence – that whole confidence in me – but it’s back. I’m returning to the ring but that [confidence is] going to have to be something that I show. I feel it wholeheartedly, especially with having no injuries. 

“I can throw this right hand as hard and as fast as I want to, not having to think about nothing; not having a second delay. I can shoot the right hand off the hip and not have no pain. And if anyone has pain and goes through it 24 hours a day, no matter what you do, you would understand how I felt. You could barely move this arm. I feel left hand dominates now; this arm has been fucked up for so long and I’ve had to count more on my left arm than my right. 

“I just feel God had to take me through certain things and you have to go through them and if that is the case my journey’s been a blessing. It ain’t never about where you’ve been. It’s all about where you’re trying to go, and I’m continuing to roll; the train continues to roll and where we’re going is a great place. We’re successful, for sure. I’m a legend. I’m an icon. For sure. But there’s still more to do. It’s time to have fun and enjoy the rest of my life like I want to. I’ve put in a lot of work for others; now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of my labor and risk my life for myself and not others.”