Deontay Wilder expecting tough fight from Johann Duhaupas

By Boxing News - 09/19/2015 - Comments

Image: Deontay Wilder expecting tough fight from Johann DuhaupasBy Scott Gilfoid: Televised on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC on September 26th. Start time: 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. in Birmingham, Alabama. Tickets start at $25, and can be purchased from DiBella Entertainment.

We’re now one week away from WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s second title defense next Saturday, September 26th against a very hungry 32-year-old Johann Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs).

The fans are really looking forward to these two huge towering monsters getting inside the ring to do battle on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the Legacy Arena, in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilder, 6’7” will be looking to show off his stuff and send a warning message to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin.

Those two Eastern European fighters are targeting the big punching Wilder, and they obviously sense some kind of flaw in Wilder’s game for them to want to fight him so badly. Wilder will be looking to make them think twice about fighting him after he gets done with Duhaupas next Saturday.

“He’s never been stopped. He’s got the height. He’s got the weight. Do I need to say more?” Wilder said via the tuscaloosanews.com. “Despite what critics may say about it, they’re going to see this is a great fight, this is an exciting fight, this is going to be a tough fight, and, I’m looking forward to it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOUQ05FnKt8

This is going to be a good opportunity for Deontay to take his game out of 1st gear to show the fans some of the other skills he has going for him. I don’t expect France’s Duhaupas to cave in the first time Wilder nails him with one of his pile-driving right hand bombs that he likes to throw.

The 6’5” Duhaupas has a good chin, and he’s fairly elusive. He’s definitely not an easy to hit fighter. With just two losses on his resume to the talented Erkan Teper and the capable Francesco Pianeta, Duhaupas is going to be a tough out for Wilder in this fight.

Duhaupas isn’t someone that Wilder is going to be able to walk through like he did with his first 32 opponents he’s faced. Duhaupas is battled hardened from his fights against Teper and Manuel Charr. He’s not going to lay down and beg for mercy in the 1st round when Wilder starts unloading on him with his 95% healed right hand.

I think it’s going to take Wilder a number of big right hands to get Duhaupas out of there, and if he doesn’t land them consecutively, then I think the fight will stretch out until the later rounds of the contest. That’s why it’s in Wilder’s best interest to really go after Duhaupas with an all-out abandon in order to make sure he gets this fight done with fast.

Wilder captured a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics for the United States. It was a surprise to a lot of boxing experts because Wilder came into the Olympics with only a handful of fights under his belt. Since leaving the amateur ranks and turning pro, Wilder has steadily improved with each fight and has really improved his game immensely.

At 34-0, Wilder is arguably still a developing fighter. His skill level is more like a beginning pro than a fighter with 34 fights under his belt, and that’s because he didn’t have any amateur experience to speak of.

Wilder boxed his way onto the Olympic team with his punching power and size alone. But he’s still very, very raw with his talent, and he’s going to need more years to become the fighter that he needs to be for him to do well in the pro game.

Wilder should have stayed as an amateur for a few years so that he could get more experience, but you can’t blame him for turning pro. The money is very good at the pro level if you have the kind of talent that the 29-year-old Wilder has going for him.

“He [Wilder] won it in January, defended it in June and is defending again in September,” promoter Lou DiBella said via tuscalooseanews.com. “I can’t remember the last time there was a heavyweight champion who fought three title fights in under nine months.”

Dibella is right. This will be Wilder’s third fight of 2015. He started off with an impressive 12 round unanimous decision win over former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stivern last January. Wilder then followed up with a 9th round knockout win over Eric Molina last June in Birmingham, Alabama.

The following fights will be on the undercard:

Charles Martin vs. Vicente Sandez
Andrzej Wawrzyk vs. Mike Sheppard
Dominic Breazeale vs. Fred Kassi
Kenneth McNeil vs. Taronze Washington
Terrell Gausha vs. Eliezer Gonzalez
Bryant Perrella vs. TBA
Mario Barrios vs. TBA
Ray Ray Bryant vs. Whitney Webster
Keith Thompson vs. Larry Knight



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