The
next chapter in the Heavyweight championship reign of undefeated WBC
Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder will take place on Saturday,
September 26th at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL. Wilder, who will be
making the second defense of his world title will take on former European
Heavyweight champion Johann Duhaupas.
Wilder
(34-0, with 33 Knockouts) won the WBC world championship in January of this
year scoring an impressive twelve round unanimous decision over Bermane
Stiverne. In his last fight this past June, Wilder scored a ninth round
knockout over a determined challenger in Eric Molina in a fight where the
champion dropped the “Game” Molina three times.
Wilder
now prepares for his second title defense as he will face current WBC number
eleven rated contender Johann Duhaupas. Duhaupas, (32-2, with 20 Knockouts) is
a former European Heavyweight champion, who has also won the South American Heavyweight
title in his career. Duhaupas would appear to be someone that could give Wilder,
a fighter with a 97% career knockout percentage a test as he has never been stopped
in thirty-four professional fights.
Stylistically,
this fight would appear to favor the champion Wilder. Duhaupas is a fighter who
tends to fight out of a high defensive guard, but does not use much lateral
movement or head movement in his fights. Although Duhaupas does throw his jab
with consistency and does let his hands go when fighting in close, the task
that he will have to contend with is whether or not he will be able nullify the
champion’s power and long reach.
Duhaupas
is not a fighter who applies consistent pressure against his opponents, but
rather appears to be tactical and attempts to execute his offense as his
opponents throw their punches. Duhaupas also tends to allow himself to be put
on the ropes regularly in his fights. It will be interesting to see whether
Wilder will look to apply pressure on Duhaupas from the outset and look to
possibly get an early stoppage.
As we
saw in Wilder’s last fight however, Eric Molina was able to find some success
in landing his right hand to the body and head of the champion. If Duhaupas can
find a way to get on the inside of Wilder without sustaining too much
punishment as he comes in and can manage to let his hands go in close as he has
been able to do in previous fights against the likes of Erkan Teper and Jean
Claude Bikoi, he might be the fighter who will continue to ask questions of the
champion that critics are still wondering, such as how Wilder will respond to
being pressured and how will he deal with adversity.
Duhaupas’
biggest win to date came against former world title challenger Manuel Charr,
whom he defeated in April of this year. Although the odds are against Duhaupas,
who will be attempting to become the first French-born fighter to win a World
Heavyweight championship in the sport, he is not someone that should be
overlooked and if this fight does go into the middle and late rounds it will be
interesting to see if he can make a fight of it against one of the hardest
hitting knockout artists in not just the Heavyweight division, but the entire
sport as well.
This
fight, which will headline a Premier Boxing Champions card broadcast by NBC in
the United States does have one piece of historical significance. It will be
the first time in over thirty years since the hotly contested battle between
Larry Holmes and Carl “The Truth” Williams squared off on May 20, 1985 that a World
Heavyweight championship fight will be televised on Broadcast television in the
United States in prime time.
Although
there may be some who might believe that this could be an “Easy” fight for the
champion as he looks to defend his world title against longtime top contender
and current WBC number one contender Alexander Povetkin in the near future and
a possible unification clash against unified IBF/WBO/WBA/IBO Heavyweight world
champion Wladimir Klitschko possibly sometime in 2016, an opponent should never
be taken lightly.
Some
may remember at the time that Carl Williams earned his opportunity to challenge
Larry Holmes for his crown, Williams was a significant underdog heading into
that fight and despite the odds being against him, was able to give Holmes a
stern challenge and there were some at the end of the night who felt he had
done enough to win the fight in a battle that he ended up losing by a
hard-fought fifteen round unanimous decision.
It is
important to remember as this observer has often said over the years “Anything can
happen at any given time in the sport of Boxing.” This especially holds true in
regard to the Heavyweight division. If Wilder is looking past Duhaupas toward
potential lucrative fights that might be in store in the future, this could end
up being a much more competitive fight than some might be anticipating.
Although
this observer is not one who likes to give predictions because after all anything
can happen, it would not shock me no matter the outcome or length of this fight
to see NBC score a significant victory in the ratings for this card. After all,
there is nothing quite like a fight for a World Heavyweight championship that
generates interest of not only experts and those who follow the sport on a
regular basis, but also the casual observer. If nothing else, this fight will
bring the sport back to a time where a World Heavyweight championship fight has
the potential to be seen by millions of people without the expense of a
pay-per-view price tag or a cable/satellite subscription. It is something that
has been long overdue.
“And That’s
The Boxing Truth.”
The
Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.
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