Solid fighter of this modern SHW era. Just think the 6 foot 4 and a half Lennox Lewis would be considered small by today's standards. Foreman was considered a monster at 6 foot 3 in the 1970s.
He was a durable contender with a good heart. However I strongly disagree with him not being classified as a gatekeeper/journeyman. He’s always been very limited and lost every big fight, Helenius was always overrated although that remains a decent win. He was just another one of Wilder’s weak defences.
A gatekeeper is someone you have to beat to get to the next level. No one that beat him received a bump to the "next level", a title shot etc..... So I'd say he really wasn't even gatekeeper level, all due respect. He was somewhere in the void between gatekeeper and journeyman, I wouldn't call him a journeyman because he wasn't paid to lose, he came to win but he definitely wasn't a gatekeeper either
Imo Duhaupass was the second best defense of Wilder reign until Fury. He was better than Molina, Spilka, Breazeale, Stiverne, Arreola or Gerald Washigton
On paper I'd have Stiverne as Wilder's 2nd best defence as he held a title and had wins over Arreola, but maybe you are right and Duhaupas is his 2nd best defence as Stiverne after winning the title basically lost what little desire he had to train and had Rhabdomyolysis in the first fight and was basically shot by the 2nd fight. But then given how poor Wilder's resume that isn't saying much. Molina was basically a glorified journeymen, KO'ed in 1 by Arreola and his best win was a shot former light heavyweight. Szpilka wasn't even gatekeeper level as his early KO losses to Kownacki and Chisora proved. Breazeale was big and powerful but he really wasn't that good, he was lucky to beat Kassi, struggled with Mansour and Ugonoh and basically lost every time he stepped up so he too wasn't even gatekeeper level. Arreola in his prime was a gatekeeper at best and when he fought Wilder he was way past his prime. Washington was again not even gatekeeper level. So even if Duhaupas was gatekeeper level he could still be regarded as Wilder's 2nd best win because Wilder defended against mainly guys who were worse than gatekeeper level. I'd favour gatekeepers like Chisora and Takam to beat everyone not named Ortiz on Wilder's resume.
insanely low bar with so little genuine quality, talent or skill with good wins its not even worth arguing for/against
What's the point of this thread? OK, so he has some tough breaks in life, and some crappy luck, but at the end of the day he never had the talent to rise above the level he achieved, which wasn't really even gatekeeper level TBH. I'm not hating on the guy by saying that; he was tough as old boots and as game as they come, and almost always gave lower level top fighters like Teper and Wilder a hard time, but he wasn't some guy who could have made it had he only had the stars align for him.
I heard he was a pastry chef from the north of France who only came out once in awhile to whoop up on scrubs like Wilder
Yeah, exactly. Duhaupus wasn't a gatekeeper, true. He was a journeyman, and an ordinary one at that. And yet, one of Wilder's better opponents, in relative terms. I've followed boxing for over 40 years and I've never seen someone fight low quality opposition for longer than Wilder. When Wilder faced live bodies, he lost. Those are the facts.
Fringe contender At least how I break it down *There's the champion *Top contenders (top few guys in the division) *Contenders (top ten guys) *Gatekeeper (floating between top 15 and dipping into top ten here and there, will usually beat guys who dont belong in the top ten, lose to those that do. Ex: Bert Cooper, Chisora for parts of his career) *Fringe contenders (guys who are somewhere between top 20ish to top 10, may never reach inside the top ten but float here) (ex: Efe Ajagba, Duhaupas) *Journeymen - I usually see journeymen as guys who generally lose to all of the above and prospects but still are competent fighters, just don't have whatever it is to make it to the next tiers). They know their role and play it well usually. Ex: Bigfoot Martin) *Spoiler Journeymen: ah, one of my favorites, no one is backing this guy, takes fights on short notice in hostile territory, but trys to win and has some talent ex: Jesse Ferguson (lighter weights Gabe Rosado, Freddie Pendleton pre IBF title, Emmanuel Augustus) *Tomato Cans: Whatever you want to call them, they are there to fall down. Ex: Jason Bergman, Dorian Darch etc *Prospects: guys starting out and are heading up, may find their level and become any one of these.
Chisora is what I consider a gatekeeper and he's better than Duhaupas imo. That isn't a knock on JD, he's a very tough man.