By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) believes that he absolutely needs to score a knockout this Saturday night against the skillful Johann Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs). Wilder has no doubt seen Duhaupas’ last two fights against Manuel Charr and Erkan Teper and knows what kind of talent this fighter has going for him. This isn’t a pushover opponent by any stretch of the imagination, and Wilder wants to make sure he gets him out of there in order not to have to deal with his boxing skills.
The 6’5”, 250lb Duhaupas has the size and reach to make this a potentially difficult fight for Deontay if he doesn’t take him out as fast as possible on Saturday night.
The Wilder-Duhaupas fight will be taking place on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the Legacy Arena, in Birmingham, Alabama. With the fight taking place on NBC, it’s going to be the perfect showcase for the 6’7” Wilder to show off his stuff in front of new fans, many of which will be seeing him for the first time. Wilder only has one chance to form a favorable impression on these fans, so he’s going to need to get Duhaupas to win them over.
“I definitely have to win this fight by knockout. I want to get him his first knockout. That’s for sure,” Deontay said. “I think this is a great fight despite of what maybe critics may say about it. They’re going to see this is a great fight.”
This is going to be a great fight because Duhaupas has a ton of talent going for him. He’s not your typical weak heavyweight contender. He actually has a lot of talent and can punch as well as box.
Wilder is going to need to do some adjusting in this fight if he wants to be able to win the fight with ease. If he fails to make adjustments, it could be a shocking fight for Deontay. I rate Duhaupas as a much better fighter than Wilder’s last opponent Eric Molina, who he stopped in the 9th round last June in Birmingham, Alabama.
“He’s [Duhaupas] tough, he comes to fight, he’s got a great record, he’s never been stopped, he got the height and the weight,” Wilder said.
Duhaupas, 32, is a tough heavyweight. He showed that in his last two fights against Erkan Teper and Manuel Charr. He really impressed in both fights. He defeated Charr by a 10 round decision, and he came close to beating Teper. The only thing that held Duhaupas back in the fight against Teper was his lack of punching power.
Teper was able to land the bigger shots all throughout the fight to get the nod on the judges’ scores. But Duhaupas showed sneaky power in that fight with the way that he would suddenly unload on chopping right hands to the head of Teper that snapped his head back violently each time he’d get hit.
Duhaupas did a good job of mixing up his power on his shots in that fight. He got Teper used to being hit by moderately powered shots, but then he would load up on big punches that would surprise Teper.
“I don’t see myself being in this sport a very long period of time so I want to fight as much as possible. I want to defend and put my title on the line as much as possible,” Wilder said.
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