By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) sees himself holding onto the WBC title for a long, long time in keeping the strap in the United States where it’s been since he won the belt in January of this year.
Wilder, 29, will be making his second defense of his title in nine days from now against the talented #12 WBC Johann Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs) on September 26th on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC at the Legacy Arena, in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilder has obviously heard the critics lambasting him about their belief that he’ll be beaten as soon as he faces Alexander Povetkin, Anthony Joshua or Wladimir Klitschko.
Wilder feels he’s going to prove them all wrong by continuing to blast out each opponent that is put in front of him. There are a lot of heavyweights in the division that want to get a chance at fighting Wilder. One by one they’re going to get their wish.
“For the first time in a long time, an American is the heavyweight champ and the title is staying right here,” Wilder said. “For the longest time, our division was THE division in boxing and now you are seeing a resurgence of that.”
It’s so true what Wilder says. I think the heavyweight title is going to stay in America for a long time to come because there’s no one out there that has the talent to take Wilder’s strap from him in my opinion.
The 39-year-old Wladimir is clearly at the end of his career, and he’ll be lucky if he can get through another two fights without getting knocked out. While I do think Wladimir will crush Tyson Fury with no problems in their fight on October 24th, I think Wladimir will get knocked out by next fight. He can’t pull the trigger on his punches any longer, and his work rate is down to just a trickle of punches. When Wladimir does throw his shots, he misses much of the time even when his opponent is standing directly in front of him. It’s like he doesn’t see things clearly anymore. The aim is gone, the work rate is gone, and the ability to pull the trigger is gone for him.
“Fighting on network TV gives us the opportunity to showcase ourselves to such a wider audience,” Deontay said. “People in our country have been waiting for a star in the division for a very long time, and I can promise you, I am the man for the job.”
Duhaupas, 32, is a very good opponent for Wilder to be fighting. I rate Duhaupas as a top 3 talent in the division. I see him as a better fighter than Vyacheslav Glazkov, Bermane Stiverne and Bryant Jennings. He’s got the goods. Duhaupas recently beat Manuel Charr and Jarno Rosberg. He’s got a lot of boxing skills for a big heavyweight his size.
Wilder will definitely need his right hand back at full strength for him to get through this fight because if it’s only at 50-75% like it was for his last fight against Eric Molina, then Wilder could lose the fight. Wilder says his right hand is at 95% now, so let’s hope so for his sake.
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