By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Alabama will be defending his title for the second time when he takes on WBC’s number 11 heavyweight Johann Duhaupas of France. The bout will be taking place this Saturday, September 26th at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The 12-rounder is another Premier Boxing Champion (PBC) card and it can be seen live in North America on the network. Fans in the UK are out of luck for live TV unless a last-minute deal is made.
The 29-year-old Wilder enters the bout with a perfect record of 34-0 along with 33 Kos while the 34-year-old Duhaupas had a pretty good mark of 32-2 with 20 Kos to his name. Duhaupas enters the fight as quite an underdog even though he stands 6-feet-5-inches tall and also has good power. It’s the challenger’s first contest in America, but he’s used to fighting on the road. Fans aren’t too thrilled about this matchup though since most of them haven’t heard of Duhaupas and Wilder’s first defence was also against another journeyman in Eric Molina. Wilde stopped Molina in the ninth round back in mid-June.
Wilder, a former Olympic bronze medalist, became the first American heavyweight in close to a decade to own a portion of the title when he beat Bermaine Stiverne of Haiti by unanimous decision in January. Wilder is basically well known for two things, which are his size and his power. He stands 6-feeet-7-inches tall, has an 83-inch reach, and has stopped all but one of his opponents, which was Stiverne. Duhaupas has the advantage in pro experience though since he’s boxed 164 rounds since turning pro back in 2004 while Wilder has 79 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008.
Wilder’s knockout percentage stands at 97 per cent while Duhaupas is 59. Therefore, most fans aren’t expecting this bout to go the distance. However, they also believed the Wilder vs Stiverne fight would end in a stoppage too and it went to a unanimous decision. That win by Wilder made him the first American heavyweight since 2007 to win a world belt. Shannon Briggs was the last to do it. Duhaupas may have the power to make Wilder take notice and he also has a decent chin. His two losses were to Erkan Teper and Francesco Pianeta by unanimous decisions this year and in 2008 respectively. Duhaupas last outing was a 10-round majority decision over Manuel Charr in April over in Russia.
Just one of Wilder’s 33 Ko victims went past the fourth round and that was Molina. Duhaupas will be hoping his name isn’t added to the list of quick-Ko victims, come Saturday night, but to do so he needs to land something hard and heavy before Wilder does. However, Wilder showed some fine boxing skills, defence, movement and a good chin against Stiverne. The challenger’s best chance here is to try and land a big shot s soon as possible and if he’s successful, just keep on throwing them.
Wilder will need to establish his jab and just wait for the opportunity to throw his power shots. If Duhaupas manages to stand up to them, the champion will simply be able to use his boxing skills to rack up the points. If it turns into an unexpected boxing match, Duhaupas will have to use his jab to work his way on the inside of the taller champion. If he can get close to Wilder he needs to make it an ugly fight and simply hope for the best.
Prediction
Wilder may indeed have some weaknesses n his game, but Duhaupas isn’t the man to expose them. The challenger’s only chance really is to land a bomb flush on Wilder’s jaw and hope that he crumbles. That’s not likely to happen though. Look for Wilder to successfully defend his crown for the second with a stoppage in the first half of the fight.
