by David P. Greisman

You may not have heard of Johann Duhaupas prior to him being picked to fight heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder on the Sept. 26 broadcast of “Premier Boxing Champions” on NBC.

Duhaupas, after all, is a 34-year-old fighter from France whose few brushes with names recognizable to even boxing’s hardcore came with losses by decision to Francisco Pianeta (who would go on to be a Wladimir Klitschko fall guy) in 2008 and prospect Erkan Teper earlier this year, as well as a majority decision victory over former Vitali Klitschko fall guy less than one month after the Teper loss.

But Wilder thinks Duhaupas is more than just someone there to be the latest knockout victim, even though Wilder is nevertheless hoping to end the fight early and move his record to 35-0 with 34 KOs.

“I couldn’t have a better opponent to be defending my title against,” Wilder said on a Sept. 17 media conference call. “I think he’s a perfect opponent for me. He’s tough. He comes to fight. He got a great record [32-2, 20 KOs]. He’s never been stopped. He got the height and the weight. Do I have to say more? I think this is a great opponent for me. I think this is a great fight, despite what critics may say about it or whatever.”

BoxRec lists Duhaupas as 6-foot-5 and most recently around 240 pounds, which perhaps not-so-coincidentally is close to the frame of heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

“We’re looking at the bigger picture besides [Duhaupas],” Wilder said. “My goal is to be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. The people that we pick, we do it for a reason. We don’t do it just because. Everything is for a reason. We was definitely looking for a certain type of European fighter as well, too. Duhaupas fit the description. He fits it well. I think he’s definitely going to come to fight. That’s what we look for. People just got to stay patient and go along with the flow, whether they like it or not.”

Wilder scored 32 straight knockouts before stepping up in opposition and outpointing Bermane Stiverne earlier this year to win a heavyweight title. His last fight was a June stoppage of Eric Molina. The Duhaupas bout will mark his second defense of the belt.

“This is a great fight. This is an exciting fight. It’s definitely going to be a tough fight. I’m looking forward to it,” Wilder said. “The excitement of boxing in the heavyweight division is definitely back. I’m happy that I’m leading the pack of that. I want to bring even more exciting fights. I can’t wait to get this on.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com