Johann Duhaupas: I’m going to take advantage of my opportunity against Deontay Wilder

By Boxing News - 08/21/2015 - Comments

1-HDP-Wilder-114By Scott Gilfoid: #12 WBC Johann Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs) plans on making the most of his opportunity when he gets inside the ring in September 26th against the talented WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-1, 33 KOs) on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC free TV from the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

This is the first and likely the last chance the 6’5” Duhaupas will get to fight for a world title during his career, and he obviously doesn’t want to waste his big chance at the big time by getting knocked out or dominated by a one-sided 12 round decision by the 6’7” Wilder.

Duhaupas, 32, has been in with big punchers before and survived them, but this obviously a much bigger test for the big French heavyweight because he’s arguably facing the biggest punching heavyweight in the planet right now in Deontay Wilder.

“I’m excited to be making my US debut and fighting for a heavyweight world title in the same night. This is the biggest opportunity of my career and I’m going to take advantage of it,” Duhaupas said. “Deontay is a huge competitor, but I’m coming into this fight prepared to make things very difficult for him. I plan on bringing the title back home to France.”

It’s nice that Wilder and his adviser Al Haymon have decided to throw Duhaupas a bone by giving him this fight because he’s one of my favorite heavyweights in the division. Duhaupas has a great deal of talent and does everything well. He’s perhaps one of the most gifted big heavyweights in the division.

I think he’s got skills above Wilder and Wladimir Klitschko in many areas. The only thing that Duhaupas lacks is the crushing power that those two heavyweights got going for them. With power, Duhaupas would be nearly unbeatable. As it is, I rate Duhaupas above other top heavyweights like Bryant Jennings, Mike Perez, Kubrat Pulev, and Vyacheslav Glazkov.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Duhaupas were to defeat Alexander Povetkin. He’s got the ability to plan for heavyweights like Povetkin and dominate if given the chance. Wladimir already created a very good blue print in how to beat Povetkin from his one-sided 12 round decision win two years ago over him.

“He’s never been knocked out until now,” Wilder said. “That’s always the ultimate goal when I’m in there with my opponent, to take them down. That’s how my name has gotten out there, through knockouts, and I want to keep that legacy going. It was big for me to knock my last opponent out and now I’m on a knockout spree.”

This is a big deal with Wilder because this fight is taking place in his home state of Alabama, and he’s going to want to make a big impression on them by trying to score a knockout over Duhaupas.

It’s not going to be easy at all because Duhaupas is not easy to hit because of his superb defensive skills, and he’s good at firing back with his own shots. Wilder is going to get his chin checked each time he throws a shot in this fight, and hopefully he’ll be ready for the shots that are going to be bounced off of him. If not, we could see a new heavyweight champion in the talented Duhaupas.



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