Deontay Wilder cannot afford to take challenger Johann Duhaupas lightly when they meet on September 26, says Malik Scott.
The unbeaten WBC world heavyweight champion (34-0-KO33) takes on France's Duhaupas (32-2-KO20) in Alabama amid suggestions the bout is merely a warm-up for Wilder's prospective clash with Alexander Povetkin.
But Scott, who was halted by the 29-year-old Wilder inside a round in March 2014, is confident Duhaupas presents a legitimate challenge and also talked up his fellow American's previous opponent, Eric Molina.
In an interview reported on boxingnewsonline.net, Scott said: "I was in camp with this kid in Moscow for about four weeks and he's a tough guy.
"He's big, 6'4'', not slow, heavy-handed, in his last fight he beat Manuel Charr in an upset on like four days' notice.
"He's coming to fight, he's extremely mentally strong and what's dangerous about him the most is that he believes he can win. Deontay will need to have his P's and Q's about him because if he takes him lightly, anything can happen in heavyweight boxing.
"The reason people criticised his win over Eric Molina is because they underestimated how good Molina actually is.
"They wrote Molina off because he lost to Chris Arreola [KO 1 in 2012], but he was a completely different fighter then."