“Maybe this will surprise you, but the guy who hit me the hardest is the Frenchman Johann Duhaupas. I still remember his jab. One of those landed — and I thought: 'Damn, a few more like that and there will be an upset in my hometown Birmingham.' He was incredibly resilient, a true iron man. I eventually stopped him, but he left the ring on his feet. A tough bastard, no doubt about it,” Wilder said emotionally.
The fight took place in September 2015 in Birmingham, Alabama. At that time, Wilder defended the WBC title and won against the stubborn European with an 11th-round technical knockout. However, Deontay himself admits: in terms of punching power and the feeling from the punches taken, no one surpassed the 'Reploid.'
“I fought with the top guys, got hit by them, fell, got up... But I felt the effects of Duhaupas' punches longer than anyone else's. It's the absolute truth,” concluded the Bronze Bomber.