By Scott Gilfoid: Unlike a lot of fighters, WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) says he doesn’t bother watching video of his fighter’s previous bouts. He feels that it’s better for him to figure out his opponents inside the ring.
The 6’7” Wilder has stuck to this tradition for his next fight against #11 WBC Johann Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs), who he’ll be facing this Saturday night on Premier Boxing Champions in a primetime fight on NBC at the Legacy Arena, in Birmingham, Alabama.
The talented 29-year-old Wilder is ready for anything Duhaupas brings to the table in this fight. If Duhaupas wants to slug with him, Wilder will be ready to play has same kind of game. If he wants to box, Wilder will accommodate him there as well.
Wilder feels that he’ll soon be taking over for Floyd Mayweather Jr. to become boxing’s No.1 fighter. Deontay is probably only six to eight fights away from making that happen. He’ll need to clean out the following names before he can take that spot: Wladimir Klitschko [x 2], Alexander Povetkin, Tyson Fury, Bryant Jennings, Kubrat Pulev, Dillian Whyte, Anthony Joshua and Lucas Browne.
The countdown continues!! The final press conference is done… 2 days til fight night!!! #PBConNBC pic.twitter.com/26oquBEwP2
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) September 24, 2015
Depending on how often Deontay fights, it could take him two to three years to beat all of those fighters. Wilder would have to fight Wladimir twice because he no doubt would have a rematch clause in the contract for a fight against him.
“I don’t look at video or any of that stuff. I like to adjust when I get into the ring. It gets me involved mentally and I can show off my IQ in the ring. I can’t wait for that bell to ring,” Wilder said. “I don’t think he’s faced any guy with the charisma that I bring to the ring,” Wilder said.
Of course, Duhaupas hasn’t been inside the ring with anyone with the same charisma and dare I say talent as Wilder. The best guys that Duhaupas has fought thus far were Erkan Teper and Manuel Charr. Teper is a good fighter, but he’s definitely not in the same class as Wilder. That guy is more primitive with his attacks, and nothing like Deontay with his attacks. It’s like night and day when you compare those two fighters.
I don’t think Wilder needs video to study Duhaupas’s past fights, because with his punching power, size and hand speed advantage, he should be able to mow him down fairly quickly in this fight. That’s not to say that Duhaupas is a fodder opponent because he definitely isn’t.
Duhaupas is very capable for a fighter with moderate punching power. But the problem that Duhaupas has is he’s facing what could be the hardest puncher in the heavyweight division right now, and that’s going to be a real problem for him because it’s just too hard for guys to take the kind of power that Wilder has.
“When you talk about the heavyweight division, you have to respect each fighter. At the end of the day, the records don’t matter. It’s about who’s the toughest, who’s the smartest and whose the most motivated in the ring,” Wilder said.
Duhaupas, 32, definitely has a great chin, because he was getting nailed by Erkan Teper’s biggest shots in their fight last year. Duhaupas took his best shots and was able to give him a lot of problems with his jabs and straight right hands.
Duhaupas changed his fighting stance constantly against Teper and Manuel Charr to befuddle them. Charr was tied in knots and didn’t know what to do. Teper was able to bail himself out with superior punching power, but it was still a very close fight at the end of it. I had Teper just narrowly winning it.
“For all of my fights I’ve been gaining more experience,” Wilder said. “I knew I could go rounds and take punches even though people didn’t think I could. With this fight, it’s a new style and a new opponent, so I might have to bring out something I haven’t had to in my career.”
Wilder is more like a pro just starting out than a fighter with 34 belts under him. Wilder didn’t have much of an amateur career despite fighting in the Olympics and winning a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics.
Wilder probably should have stayed an amateur for another three years before turning pro, because that would have enabled him to get a lot of fights under his belt against the best amateurs in the world.
Instead, Wilder turned pro and had to get his experience against professional fighters rather than amateurs. Wilder did things the hard way, but it’s starting to pay off for him.
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