WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay Wilder on Monday confirmed his second title defense will be hosted at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena, formerly the BJCC.
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Deontay Wilder speaks to media in Birmingham on June 11, two days before his big fight against Eric Molina.
The commission has received paperwork for the venue and date.
A person familiar with the situation says Wilder will fight Frenchman Johan Duhaupas.
The saving grace of this fight will be if this is truly just a tune-up for Wilder to take on Alexander Povetkin, the top-ranked WBC contender and mandatory challenger.
Wilder, who is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is 34-0 with 33 knockouts. Povetkin (29-1, 21 KO) does present a serious challenge to Wilder on paper, and has looked more ferocious and determined than ever in his last three fights, following a 2013 loss to Wladimir Klitschko. An official announcement as well as more details of the fight will be released at a news conference on Thursday at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. The card will be televised on NBC.
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Duhaupas (32-2-KO20) lost to former world title challenger Francesco Pianeta back in 2008 and suffered a points defeat to hard-hitting European champion Erkan Teper in March, but bounced back by narrowly outpointing Manuel Charr the following month.
