Hernandez, Wilder TKOs thrill Wichita crowd in historic boxing event
For one night, the center of the boxing universe wasn’t Las Vegas or New York. It was Wichita, Kansas.
A rowdy crowd inside Koch Arena, better known as the venue for Wichita State basketball games, roared with every punch as the two main attractions — hometown hero Nico Hernandez and former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder — delivered technical knockout victories on Friday evening in what was the largest boxing event in Kansas history.
It was an unlikely setting for such a spectacle, but Wichita drew rave reviews from the Bronze Bomber following the fight.
“What an amazing time to be here in Wichita, Kansas,” Wilder said. “I’ve never been here before, but it definitely won’t be my last time. It made me feel at home with the love and hospitality that was here. It was tremendous the way they treated me and my team. I’m forever grateful and thankful for that.”
The event was fittingly dubbed “Legacy Reloaded” and saw both Hernandez and Wilder reload their own careers in style.
In his first fight in two years, Hernandez — a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and Wichita native — overwhelmed Robert Ledesma, a last-minute replacement, to improve his professional record to 12-0 with five knockouts. Energized by the familiar chants of “Nico! Nico!” echoing throughout the Roundhouse, Hernandez was dominant from the start and finished the job with a right hook to the rib cage that crumpled his overmatched opponent in a corner to force a second-round stoppage.
“It was great to see him back,” said Lewis Hernandez, Nico’s father and trainer. “He was a little rusty, but it wasn’t bad. He had a pretty good performance. He just needs to stay in the gym and we’ll be back on track.”
After knocking off the ring rust on Friday, Hernandez plans to stage his comeback in the 112-pound flyweight division. Lewis Hernandez believes his son is three fights away from potentially fighting for a world championship.
While the event wouldn’t have happened in Wichita without Hernandez, it was Wilder’s presence that gave the event nationwide attention. Boxing analysts expressed their amusement online at Wilder’s comeback occurring in Kansas, not exactly known for its boxing history, but the 39-year-old still successfully launched his comeback with a dominant seventh-round stoppage of Tyrrell Herndon.
Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KOs) floored Herndon (24-6) with a left hook in the second round, sent him to the canvas again in the sixth after a barrage of punches, then sealed the victory with his signature right hand in the seventh that snapped Herndon’s head back and convinced the referee to wave off the fight.
“I did a lot of things right and there’s a lot of other things I could have done right,” Wilder said. “But you can’t do it all in one night. It takes time, especially in this business.”
Of all places, Wichita was the city where Wilder proved he might still have enough in the tank for another run of big-money fights.
But when asked about a potential showdown with Anthony Joshua, Wilder didn’t seem like he was in much of a rush. The two heavyweight icons are rumored to be in the midst of talks about fighting sometime in 2026.
“When you’re in the heavyweight division, you’re always one fight away from a title fight,” Wilder said. “We just don’t want to push it. We want to take our time, just like I did tonight. And then we’ll go when we feel like we’re ready to take it back over again.”
An approximate crowd of 4,000 fans filled Koch Arena, including Mayor Lily Wu, who had a walkout of her own earlier in the evening.
While no one will mistake that for a sold-out crowd at T-Mobile Arena or Barclays Center, Wichita was routinely praised throughout the night by Wilder and the event’s promoter, Global Combat Collective.
“They didn’t expect for us to be able to pull this off to bring the (former) heavyweight champion to Wichita, Kansas,” said Nelson Lopez Jr., promoter for Global Combat Collective. “And they didn’t expect Wichita to look like it looked. So big shoutout to Wichita for showing up and showing out. It was an overall win for everybody.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
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