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The Bronze Bomber, Trainspotting and the harsh realities of the hard sell and the long road back
Trainspotting - Danny Boyle's seminal cult movie - remains a peerless British film bristling with cartoonish but multidimensional characters, an iconic soundtrack and scenes that left an indelible mark on anyone who watched it.
Those familiar with the movie – based on the generation-defining novel by Irvine Welsh that fused heavy drug use, casual sex and boozing with a captivating observation of political and social marginality - will be au fait with Sick Boy’s unifying theory of life.
In the movie the irascible Sick Boy theorizes that everyone has a period of greatness, a "spark," which when they eventually lose they can never be regained again.
Sick Boy: It's certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life.
Renton: What do you mean?
Sick Boy: Well, at one time, you've got it, and then you lose it, and it's gone forever. All walks of life: Georgie Best, for example. Had it, lost it. Or David Bowie, or Lou Reed.
And after a rough couple of years the big question is has Deontay Wilder – The Bronze Bomber - lost it forever?
Former WBC champion Wilder, who meets Tyrrell Herndon in a heavyweight 10-rounder on Friday night, is embarking on another run towards heavyweight glory.
Wilder has been on our boxing radar since he won a bronze at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. 2008. That’s a long time ago and there are a lot of miles on the clock, in terms of fights and hard sparring preparing for said fights.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
His 43-4-1 (42) pro record remains impressive, but the raw data does not tell the whole story. The American has lost back-to-back fights, and his last win was in 2022. In fact, he has lost four of his last fight fights since a come from behind KO victory over Luis Ortiz in 2019.
He was brutally knocked out by heavyweight contender Zhilei Zhang in June 2024 and prior to that was outfought by former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker as he slept walked to a unanimous decision loss over 12 rounds.
Herndon, 37, has won three fights since a TKO 2 loss to Richard Torrez Jr. However, he has hardly been mixing in exalted company in recent years.
It really looked like the end for Wilder in the middle of a suffocatingly hot night in Riyadh when he turned his back on ‘Big Bang’ Zhang, went down heavily and narrowly beat the count before being rescued on his feet. At the time it looked like a sad end to an extraordinary career.
However, this is boxing. Heavyweight boxing to be more precise where a couple of wins for a big name often results in another tilt at the title.
Wilder is undeniably still a big name, a fighter who proudly held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020.
No longer a lithe blend of speed and power, Wilder continues to talk a good game but there are many who contend that he is more show than substance in 2025 and that his arrogant and loquacious front masks a genuine lack self-confidence. A classic case of someone whistling past the graveyard, if you will.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
He’s always been in excellent shape. He has always taken the business of boxing seriously and prepared diligently for his assignments. However, a ripped physique can rarely disprove if a fighter is shot.
Wilder turns 40 later this year. Those in the Wilder business will point to the fact that George Foreman won a world title at 46 years and 169 days old when he knocked out Michael Moorer in 1994. Bernard Hopkins won the IBF light-heavyweight title at the age of 49 years and 139 days in 2014.
But these men are exceptions to the rule. Fistic outliers who defied the odds and Sick Boy’s theory of life.
Friday’s big fight venue tells you plenty about where Wilder is in 2025.
Wilder will box at the Charles Koch Arena in Wichita. This is a far cry from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. His heavyweight championship rematch with Tyson Fury – staged at the MGM in 2020 - broke the record for a heavyweight boxing gate in Nevada.
The final gate was an eye-watering $16,916,440 and - according to MGM - usurping the $16,860,300 set by another heavyweight title rematch between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in 1999 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Friday’s gate receipts will not be quite so extravagant.
One interested TV spectator on Friday might be Anthony Joshua, as there’s no doubt if both men can reel off a couple of blowout wins then a fight between Joshua v Wilder could sell, especially in England.
For years, Wilder and Joshua talked about fighting, but for one reason or another it never happened. There is a feeling of unfinished business between the pair.
History will remember Wilder as an exciting, explosive fighter with dynamite in his gloves. However, he has always looked great as the hammer but not so great as the nail. His footwork is poor – relatively speaking – and recent fights suggest his punch resistance may be going too.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
In the pre-fight build up to this Wilder has been alluding that in recent years he has battled through shoulder pain that eventually resulted in two surgeries and now he is pain free he is predicting a return to his brutal, riotous best. Is he speaking the truth? Or whistling past the graveyard again?
The puncher from Tuscaloosa, Alabama must realise, privately at least, that this is his last run.
Legacy Reloaded is how they are selling this. But as always, some perspective is needed.
Herndon is essentially a club fighter not comparable to a Parker or a Zhang. This fight has not been made with the intention of it being a candidate for 2025 Fight of the Year. It has been designed for a highlight reel Wilder finish.
He may be in his twilight years, and a fighter in decline, but there is still money to be made from the Wilder name.
The Bronze Bomber is 1/20 with some bookmakers to get the win on Friday, so according to the oddsmakers, it should not be a problem.
The problem will come when he again mixes in elite company, and Sick Boy’s theory tells us there is more chance when that happens he will look like a faded George Best towards the end turning out for Bournemouth than an inspired George Foreman knocking out Michael Moorer in Las Vegas.
It's certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life..
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