Deontay Wilder will be making the second defense of his WBC Heavyweight crown on September 26th, but the match-up won’t be igniting much enthusiasm. The undefeated 6′ 7″ fighter will be taking on Johann Duhaupas at the Legacy Arena in Wilder’s hometown of Birmingham, Alabama.
It’s awfully hard to not get cynical about this one, folks. ‘Who is Duhaupas?’ you might be wondering. You may have caught sight of him, or heard of his name in the Heavyweight mix somewhere along the line. The 34-year-old Frenchman (32-2, 20 KO) failed to conquer Erkan Teper in March, but got the W against Manuel Charr.
Teper, as you probably know, is an undefeated banger who recently took out David Price inside 2 rounds. As for Charr, he’s not exactly ‘contender material’. In summary, Duhaupas doesn’t pose a threat in terms of ability, but he can punch, and won’t be dwarfed in size; he usually weighs around 235 pounds, and will stand just two inches shorter than Wilder.
Not excited about this one? You’re not alone…
But there is a decent fight out there for ol’ Wilder (34-0, 33 KO). 2016 should see him take on Mandatory Challenger Alexander Povetkin, and that is no fight to be scoffed at. Povetkin is a serious threat to any fighter in the division, and has looked particularly ferocious since his 2013 defeat to Wladimir Klitschko. Not all the money would be on Wilder in that one, we’re sure.
The undercard will feature a rather surprising title fight between Omar Figueroa and Antonio DeMarco. Why surprising? Not just because it’s a poor match-up, but because DeMarco was considered to be retired. As far as we knew, anyway. The pair will nonetheless be trading leather in a 140 pound dust-up.
Does Duhaupas stand any realistic chance of toppling Wilder? Or is this bout just a showcase gap-filler to bridge the Alexander fight?
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