Deontay Wilder KOs Johann Duhaupas in 11th round to retain heavyweight title
It took longer than he figured, but WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder eventually got what he was looking for Saturday night - a knockout of Johann Duhaupas before 8,471 raucous hometown fans at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala.
Referee Jack Reiss mercifully stopped the fight at 55 seconds of the 11th round, after Wilder unleashed a flurry of power punches that turned Duhaupas' face into a bloody mess. Wilder didn't come out of the fight unscathed, however, as the courageous Frenchman, making his U.S. debut, came back time after time despite taking so much punishment from the 6-foot-7 Wilder, whose left eye was nearly swelled shut by the end of the fight.
Wilder landed an astounding 69% of his power punches, 183 of 267. Duhaupas connected on 47 of 152 (31%). Wilder also used his stiff left jab to keep Duhaupas at a distance much of the fight, landing 143 of 320 jabs.
Wilder said he felt relaxed in front of his home fans, who chanted his name, "De-On-TAY, De-On-TAY" throughout the fight.
"I wasn't feeling no pressure at all," Wilder, 29, said. "I been doing this for a while now. I know it's tough fighting at home because you want to please and entertain the crowd, but the people came out and paid their hard-earned money so they definitely want to see a show. And didn't y'all get a show tonight? Oh my God."
Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) was making his second defense of the title he won in January from Bermane Stiverne. Both have been in Birmingham, in his home state of Alabama. The Tuscaloosa native and current resident said criticism of Duhaupas was a result of ignorance about the fighter's career because he has fought outside of the U.S.
"He did everything we expected him to do, we knew he was tough, mentally tough, we knew he was going to come," Wilder said. "That's why I tell people you can't criticize nobody you don't know. The scariest people are the ones you don't know. And he's got a hell of a chin, too, and that's what it's all about. When you're fighting for a heavyweight title, it brings a different beast, a different animal out of you. And they come to get it all.
"He did an excellent job and he definitely gets my respect. I see why he's never been stopped before."
Duhaupas was not happy that Reiss stopped the fight, despite the punishment he had been taking.
"Wilder's a strong puncher but I was also ready to go the distance," Duhaupas said. "I don't think the referee should have stopped the fight. I was defending myself and moving. I don't know why he stopped the fight. Yes I was bleeding but it was not affecting me in any way. I have never been stopped before in a fight and there's a reason for that. It was disappointing he chose to stop it."
Wilder won his first defense in June with a ninth-round TKO of Eric Molina. Duhaupas fell to 32-3 (20 KOs).
The Olympic bronze medalist in 2008, nicknamed "The Bronze Bomber," was the first heavyweight champion since Larry Holmes in 1985 to defend his title on NBC in prime time.
"Each and every fight I prove a little bit more about what people don't know about me," Wilder said. "Of course I can take a punch, of course I can box, and I'm a hell of a fighter on the inside, a lot of people don't know that, but I displayed a lot tonight."
Asked when he would fight Wladimir Klitschko for the undisputed heavyweight world championship, Wilder said, "Hopefully sometime near the end of next year. We got to get these mandatories out of the way first. The key is to stay patient. There's a process in this and soon we can have our undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, which is me baby!"
Breazeale remains unbeaten: In the co-feature, heavyweight Dominic Breazeale remained undefeated with a controversial unanimous decision over Fred Kassi in a 10-round bout.
Kassi was able to get through Breazeale's porous defense early and often, and connected on one more punch than Breazeale, the 6-foot-7 former quarterback from Northern Colorado, 119-118.
The three judges scored it 98-92, 97-93 and 100-90, the last score a shutout for Breazeale, who improved to 16-0 with 14 KOs. Most on social media had Kassi (18-4-1, 10 KOs) winning a close decision.
"Fred's a tough competitor, he came out guns a-blazing, it was punch for punch, match for match," Breazeale said. "I landed some good shots, he landed some good shots. I definitely wasn't expecting that from Fred Kassi at all. My performance was good, it could have been a lot better I have a lot of work to do."