Wilder to defend WBC heavyweight title against Duhaupas on Sept. 26

Aug

Deontay Wilder will defend his WBC heavyweight title on Sept. 26 against Johann Duhaupas of France.

The bout will take place at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama and will be broadcast live on NBC, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET/ 5:30 p.m. PT.

A press conference will take place on Thursday in Birmingham to formally announce the fight.

Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) will be making the second defense of the WBC title he won on Jan. 17 against Bermane Stiverne. In his last bout on Jun. 13, Wilder, who resides in nearby Tuscaloosa, knocked out Eric Molina in the ninth round.

Wilder is THE RING’s No. 2-rated heavyweight.

THE RING’s No. 1-rated heavyweight, Alexander Povetkin of Russia, is Wilder’s mandatory challenger and could have a 12-round fight lined up against Mariusz Wach on Nov. 4.

Should both fighters win their respective bouts, the WBC is expected to order Wilder and Povetkin to begin negotiations later this fall for a fight to take place in early 2016.

Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs) scored his most impressive win to date in his last bout on Apr. 10, defeating Manuel Charr by majority decision over 10 rounds.

Duhaupas is ranked number 12 by the WBC and will be fighting for the first time in the United States after mostly fighting in Europe.

Opening the ‘PBC on NBC broadcast, unbeaten Omar Figueroa will fight Antonio DeMarco in a 10-round junior welterweight bout.

Figueroa (25-0-1, 18 KOs) won a hard-fought 12 round unanimous decision over Ricky Burns in his last bout on May 9. After losing a one-sided 10 round decision on Jun. 21, DeMarco retired from boxing, but surprised many in boxing by reportedly taking the fight last week.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing