Duhaupas: The referee shouldn’t have stopped it

By Boxing News - 09/27/2015 - Comments

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By Tim Fletcher: #11 WBC Johann Duhaupas (32-3, 20 KOs) is unhappy that the referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight in the 11th round last night in Duhaupas’ fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

Duhaupas, 34, had taken too much punishment in the 11th round from Wilder for Reiss to let the fight continue, so he stopped the fight at 0:55 of the round rather than letting Duhaupas take further shots. Duhaupas wanted to finish the fight on his feet by going the full 12 rounds instead of being on the receiving end of a TKO defeat.

This was Duhaupas’ first knockout loss of his career, and he wasn’t happy about it. He did finish the fight on his feet, but he was bloody and battered.

The fight was stopped because Duhaupas was just covering up during Wilder’s bombardment of shots in the 11th. Wilder landed eight consecutive power shots to the head of Duhaupas within seconds, and Reiss chose to stop it when he saw that Duhaupas wasn’t throwing anything back at Wilder.

That was a mistake that Duhaupas made in the fight. During Wilder’s flurries, Duhaupas would wait until he was finished throwing punches before he’s come out from behind his guard to start throwing shots back at him.

The problem was that when Wilder would throw five to ten punches in a row, it would leave Duhaupas taking the shots and it looked really bad that he wasn’t trying to counter Wilder with anything.

“Wilder’s a strong puncher but I was also ready to go the distance,” Duhaupas said. ”I don’t think the referee should have stopped the fight. I was defending myself and moving. I don’t know why he stopped the fight. Yes, I was bleeding but it was not affecting me in any way. I have never been stopped before in a fight and there’s a reason for that. It was disappointing he chose to stop it,” Duhaupas added.

Duhaupas wasn’t moving at the time of the stoppage, nor was he moving late in the 10th round, when Wilder threw a hard volley of punches to the head of Duhaupas when he had him against the ropes.

Duhaupas was just covering up and waiting for Wilder to stop throwing his shots so that he could have his turn to throw. That’s the kind of fighter that Duhaupas is. He’s one of those fighters who take turns throwing punches with his opponents. He doesn’t try to punch in between or throw at the same time the way good fighters do.

“I trained hard for this fight but only trained five weeks which for me is not enough time. I was still fighting a good fight and again I don’t think the referee should have stopped it,”

I don’t think the outcome would be any different if Duhaupas had more time to train for the fight. Duhaupas was simply out of his element fighting a guy taller, faster, stronger, younger and much more powerful than him in the 6’7” Deontay.

If Duhaupas was in better shape, he might have taken a bit more punishment, but he still would have been an easy mark for Wilder because of his habit of waiting for him to throw his shots before he started throwing anything back in return.

That was not a good style to have for this fight. Duhaupas would have stood a better chance if he jumped on Wilder and threw 6 to 8 punches without stopping rather than his usual 1-2 combinations and jabs that he was throwing. Wilder was beatable last night but not with the way that Duhaupas was fighting.

“Wilder is a good fighter. I think he is tough and hit me with some good shots,” Duhaupas said. ”But I also think he should have more preparation to go to the next level. He can compete with Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin but he needs to train hard and have a strong game plan. I’m okay and will continue my boxing career in Europe.”

Wilder will soon get his chance to fight Povetkin in early 2016. The two fighters’ management will begin negotiations in October to arrange a fight in the first quarter of 2016. Povetkin has been waiting for this title shot for some time. The Wilder vs. Povetkin fight will likely take place in Moscow, Russia, depending on whether it goes to purse bids or not.



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