By Scott Gilfoid: In response to some of the negative feedback that WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) received from IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) about the quality of opposition he’s facing now that he’s the WBC champion, Wilder fired back at Klitschko in pointing out that he’s fought equally poor opposition during his time as a world champion over the last 14 years.
Wilder thinks it’s interesting that Klitschko is giving him advice about his opposition, and yet he’s been taking easy opponents for years off and on.
Since winning the WBC heavyweight title with a win over Bermane Stivern last January, Wilder has defended his title successfully once in beating Eric Molina by a 9th round knockout last June. Molina was ranked #12 by the WBC at the time.
For Wilder’s next defense, he’ll be facing #12 WBC contender Johann Duhaupas on September 26th on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Duhaupas, 32, is a good opponent for Wilder to be fighting considering that it’s a voluntary defense and not a mandatory.
You don’t exactly see Wladimir facing the best when he’s making his own voluntary defense. Wladimir has fought guys like Jean Marc Mormeck, Francesco Pianeta, Alex Leapai, Mariusz Wach, Hasim Rahman and Mariusz Wach. Those guys are on par with Molina in terms of talent. I rate Duhaupas as better than all those fighters.
“For him [Klitschko] to make that statement is for him to really criticize his own self or talk bad about himself,” said Wilder via Fight News. “If he’s talking about opponents or whatever, he’s been doing the same thing for over a decade. He’s been fighting guys we don’t know names or how to pronounce or where the hell they came from, they came out of a rabbit box. For him to say that is very laughable for me.”
It doesn’t make any sense at all for the 39-year-old Klitschko to go after Wilder after he’s made just one title defense. I mean, I could understand Wladimir taking a shot at Wilder if he’d been a champion for years and years and had established a pattern of fighting obscure challengers. But Wilder is only making his second voluntary defense.
After this fight against Duhaupas, Wilder will either be facing his #1 WBC mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin next or facing Wladimir in a unification fight. The World Boxing Council president has already reportedly said that he won’t stand in the way of a Wilder vs. Klitschko fight from taking place in early 2016. In other words, if Klitschko is still interested in facing Wilder at that time next year then that fight can take place next year. Klitschko can then give Wilder credit for taking on a tough opponent like him.
Wilder is going to have a lot of chances to defend his WBC title over the years ago his mandatory challengers. Once he gets Povetkin out of the way, Wilder will next likely be facing Anthony Joshua in 2016 or 2016. After Deontay defends his title against Povetkin, he’ll have two more voluntary defenses that will eat up 2016.
So if Joshua wants a shot at his WBC title, he’s going to have to put a sock in it and wait until 2017, because I don’t think Wilder is going to pick him out for a voluntary defense. It wouldn’t make sense for him to do that.
If Wilder is going to throw anyone a bone it’ll be Tyson Fury after he loses to Klitschko in their fight on October 24th at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. I think Wilder will give the beaten Fury a chance at his WBC title, and Fury will gladly accept it because of the payday and the opportunity to fight for another world title so soon.
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