Wilder to take on KO artist

[Earl-Hickey]

Details being finalized for Birmingham to host Deontay Wilder's next heavyweight title defense

Multiple sources have told AL.com that a deal is being finalized for Deontay Wilder to host his upcoming title defense at Birmingham's Legacy Arena against Frenchman Johann Duhaupas.

Wilder (34-0, 33 KO) will make his defense on Sept. 26. The fight will be televised on NBC in the Premier Boxing Champions series.

A formal announcement is expected within a few days.

Wilder, a Tuscaloosa native, served Eric Molina a ninth-round knockout on June 13 in Birmingham at UAB's Bartow Arena in his first title defense. As of last week, the location finalists for this fight were in Alabama or on the West Coast.

The fight against Molina was in front 9,347 fans at sold-out Bartow Arena. Legacy Arena can seat up to 19,000 for concerts.

Wilder won the WBC heavyweight championship in January against Bermane Stiverne in Las Vegas.

The 6-foot-5 Duhaupas, ranked No. 12 in the current WBC heavyweight rankings, is a native of Abbeville, France. He's 34 years old and has a 32-2 record with 20 knockouts.

Wilder had to set up a fight against someone in the WBC top 15 for this voluntary challenger. His mandatory challenger is set to be against Alexander Povetkin, but negotiations for that fight will begin in October.

Duhaupas is 5-1 in his last six fights, losing a unanimous decision to Erkan Teper in March. He is the former France heavyweight champion.

[Hougigo]

At least it's not Wawzryk

[Weltschmerz]

I just hope this isn't true.

[Sroey]

I thought he was after bigger names?

[glenn mcrory]

I thought he was after bigger names?

Bigger names...that lack the ability to brutally KHTFO...
yes.

Gonna be hard finding those, doe.

[Dindu_Nuffin]

This is the great black hope looool

[techliam]

KO artist?

32-2 with 20 KOs

That sort of power is only heard of in legends. The sort of power that KO's Holyfield (who survived a hail mary onslaught from Romney) and Vitali Klitschko with a power jab

Can't wait for Povetkin-Wilder. A win over Povetkin legitimises Wilder as a decent HW contender for Wlad

[KnockoutNed]

Duhaupas is anything but a "KO artist"

[Fury4daWIN]

That's not a bad opponent to be fair. Duhaupas outpointed Charr earlier in the year so he's not a complete whoospie. And he's a fair sized bloke.

Might be a bit hard to sell him to casuals however.

[Earl-Hickey]

By Scott Gilfoid: #12 WBC Johann Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs) is the latest of the possible opponents for WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) to fight in his next bout on September 26th on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC.

Andrzej Wawrzyk is also still under consideration for Wilder***8217;s next fight. What both of these talented heavyweights have in common are good size, mobility and talent. Duhaupas is 6***8217;5***8221;, has a great chin, and can move around the ring.



If Wilder is to KO this guy, he***8217;s going to have to cut off the ring on him and really go after him because he***8217;s not going to get him out of there by landing only an occasional shot to the head.

***8220;Under consideration to face @BronzeBomber on 9/26 on NBC in prime time: Johann Duhaupas. He***8217;s the former French heavyweight champeeen!!!!!***8221; Dan Rafael said on his Twitter.

Duhaupas was recently beaten by the hard hitting Erkan Teper by a 12 round unanimous decision in March of this year in losing by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 116-111, 116-111 and 116-111. Duhaupas took Teper***8217;s best shots and answered back with his own hard shots.

The difference was Teper had the better power and that enabled him to cruise to a fairly comfortable decision. But having seen this fight myself, I was really impressed with the boxing skills Duhaupas showed in that fight. He looked very good and gave Teper his hardest fight of his career.

Last March, Duhaupas beat former world title challenger Manuel Teper by a 10 round decision. The fight was scored close, but I had Duhaupas winning by a lopsided decision. He was simply too good for Charr and he deserved the win.

Duhaupas was beaten by Francesco Pianeta by a unanimous decision seven years ago when he was far less developed than he is now. Believe me, if Duhaupas fought Pianeta now, he***8217;d beat him with ease because he***8217;s a much better fighter now than he was back then.