Deontay Wilder is widely regarded as the hardest hitting boxer in the sport today, and commonly mentioned in amongst the most powerful of all time.
Alabama’s knockout artist has 42 stoppages in 43 wins. The one man who made it to a losing decision, Bermaine Stiverne, was put out cold in their rematch.
It’s no wonder then that Wilder is mostly asked about his own devastating power, but the question was flipped in a recent interview with TalkSPORT.
Asked who has hit him the hardest, Wilder highlighted one Johann Duhaupas.
“Who hit me the hardest… I would have to say it was the Frenchman. S**t what’s that Frenchman’s name … Johann Duhaupas. Yes that’s him. That’s the hardest puncher I’ve faced in my career thus far.”
Wilder had to look back to 2015 for the answer, when Duhaupas travelled to Birmingham, Alabama to challenge for his world title.
Duhaupas made a fight of it in the first round, but Wilder wasn’t deterred from his usual style of big shots with everything behind them. By the fourth, the champion had a mighty swelling on his eye as the Frenchman continued to move forward into the fire.
It only meant more damage for him, though and his face was a bloody mess by the time Wilder’s uppercuts accumulated enough to see referee Jack Reiss step in and wave it off in the eleventh. Duhaupas was valiantly still on his feet at the time of the stoppage.
It was Wilder’s second defence of the WBC belt, and he would rack up five more before keeping the belt after a draw with Tyson Fury. In their second bout, a motivated ‘Gypsy King’ bulldozed the American to win the title.
He won their third meeting by stoppage too, albeit coming through a bit more adversity. Over the course of the trilogy, Wilder was on the canvas five times.
The former WBC Champion was also wobbled by Cuba’s Luis Ortiz over the course of their two fights.
Duhaupas has not challenged for a world title again, continuing to fight but with a mixed bag of results of seven wins and four losses, two of which came inside the distance at the hands of Alexander Povetkin and Tony Yoka.
Wilder returns to the ring against Joseph Parker on December 23.