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In an effort to get himself back into the world title mix, Johann Duhaupas has made the “crazy” decision to take a fight with Alexander Povetkin on extremely short notice, replacing Bermane Stiverne after Povetkin failed another drug test.
Duhaupas (34-3, 21 KO) is coming off of a knockout win over a busted Robert Helenius in April of this year, and had lost two of his last four fights before that, a decision to Erkan Teper in March 2015, and then a TKO loss to Deontay Wilder in an undeserved WBC title shot six months later.
He does have some recent success fighting on short notice in Russia, though. To get the Wilder fight, he won a decision over Manuel Charr in Moscow just a month after his loss to Teper. So that’s something.
The interim WBC title will not be on the line, as it was scheduled to be for Povetkin-Stiverne.