Wilder set to defend against Wawrzyk on Feb. 25

After what will be a seven-month layoff, Deontay Wilder will defend his WBC title against Andrzej Wawrzyk in his hometown of Birmingham, AL.

For heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder, 2016 has been a year plagued by injury. In his previous fight against Chris Arreola in July, Wilder suffered a broken right hand and a torn right biceps. Amazingly, Wilder was able to finish the fight and even made Arreola retire in his corner after the eighth round. The injuries that Wilder sustained that night prompted him to sit out for the rest of the year.

After months of healing and rehabilitation, Wilder, 31, is ready to make his return to the ring. He will defend his title against Poland’s Andrzej Wawrzyk (33-1,19 KO’s), who is currently ranked No. 12 by the WBC. Wawrzyk, 29, has been on a six-fight win streak since his knockout loss to Alexander Povetkin in 2013. Despite his outstanding record, he is widely unknown to the American public, with almost all of his previous bouts taking place in his home country of Poland. His biggest wins were against the long-faded Frans Botha and Danny Williams, both of whom are well into their 40s.

For Wilder (37-0, 36 KO’s), this fight will mark his ninth fight in his home state of Alabama, four of which were title defenses, all of them won by knockout. Those four championships fights were also the only heavyweight title matches ever contested in the state of Alabama. Without a doubt, Wilder always brings a great turnout to his title defenses in Alabama, and Andrzej Wawrzyk was unquestionably chosen by Wilder’s team to be another one of those knockout defenses.

The network is yet to be officially announced, although it is looking like it might be on a Premier Boxing Champions show.

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