Deontay Wilder vs. Eric Molina (13th June)?

[KBB]

I think Wilder starts a new KO streak with this fight.

Yeah it appears he's back on the bum of the moment tour.

[Tony1244]

No one can approve of Molina as a challenger except Molina, his family, friends, and people who financially benefit from this. But anyone who reads upcoming fights on boxrec should be not be surprised.

Who is Spilkva fighting? Who is Shannon Briggs fighting? The only competitive HW fight signed is Povetkin-Perez. Some will say but this is a title fight. Flibityflue. Everyone knows the champ is Wlad, and I'd root for Wilder over Wlad, just saying...

[Evander]

Eric Who ?
I've never of him.

[handsofstone]

Any idea when the WBC will push for the Povetkin fight?

[Freedom2013]

To be honest, I’m a little surprised that the WBC has declared Wladimir Klitschko as Deontay’s mandatory challenger, in the same way that Golovkin and Pacquiao were made official mandatories for Cotto and Mayweather respectively.

Really?

That news makes my day.

It would be nice to see Wladimir Klitschko have a shot at the only HW title he still doesn't have before he gets too old to beat guys like Wilder.

[Tony1244]

I'll give Wilder a pass on this.
It's merely a showcase bout to unveil the new champion to a world wide television audience in his home state of Alabama.

No harm no foul.

So it's not a competitive bout that shouldn't see the 3rd round.

Foreman had his Joe Roman in his first defense, Joe Frazier immediately took on Terry Daniels after winning universal recognition as champ.

What's Wilder doing but following in the footsteps of other great heavyweight titlists?

I got on here to write basically the same thing you did. Wilder DOES deserve a pass here, as long as he doesn't make this a habit. IF, Wilder's next fight after this is Povetkin, Wlad, or another legitimate top 10er, all should be forgiven.

[crusader]

He's fought one top 10 opponent in his nearly 7 year, 33 fight career, so I don't think he's earned a pass like Eric Molina. Maybe he'll fight someone like Povetkin soon, but whether that happens is yet to be seen.

It's also not as if he's someone like Marco Huck who regularly fights good opponents between uninspiring ones; it's been one uninspiring opponent after another for nearly his entire career.

[dempseyfire]

I'll give Wilder a pass on this.
It's merely a showcase bout to unveil the new champion to a world wide television audience in his home state of Alabama.

No harm no foul.

So it's not a competitive bout that shouldn't see the 3rd round.

Foreman had his Joe Roman in his first defense, Joe Frazier immediately took on Terry Daniels after winning universal recognition as champ.

What's Wilder doing but following in the footsteps of other great heavyweight titlists?

Roman, for better or worse, was a lower tier top 10 fighter due to a streak of 23 wins out of 24 bouts which included wins over Manual Ramos, Jack O'Halloran, Chuck Wepner, and Jose Urtain. Not a murderer's row by any means, but he was an experienced fighter. He also followed up by fighting Ken Norton.

Before Daniels Frazier had fought one of the most exhaustive 15 round fights ever vs Ali that had landed him in the hospital for a week.

Wilder has faced only one top 10 fighter in Stiverne, and Molina is not even in the boxrec top 40, having been stopped in a round in his lone step up vs gatekeeper Arreola.

[Totalpac]

Agree

I'll give Wilder a pass on this.
It's merely a showcase bout to unveil the new champion to a world wide television audience in his home state of Alabama.

No harm no foul.

So it's not a competitive bout that shouldn't see the 3rd round.

Foreman had his Joe Roman in his first defense, Joe Frazier immediately took on Terry Daniels after winning universal recognition as champ.

What's Wilder doing but following in the footsteps of other great heavyweight titlists?

I got on here to write basically the same thing you did. Wilder DOES deserve a pass here, as long as he doesn't make this a habit. IF, Wilder's next fight after this is Povetkin, Wlad, or another legitimate top 10er, all should be forgiven.

[Badhusker]

I’m sure that American fight fans won’t moan too much about Deontay choosing to take the path of least resistance, as they’re probably rather happy that a small part of the heavyweight championship has returned to their shores.

Unfortunately though, whilst his honesty should be commended, it frustrates me that Wilder has openly admitted that he’ll only face title challengers that are willing to accept small paydays (barring any mandatories that has to perform, but he’ll still get a 75% cut for those anyway if the bouts go to purse bids).

In stark contrast, whether this is borne out of his own arrogance or not, but Wladimir Klitschko seemingly treats all his title challengers equally and he’ll face anyone, because he genuinely believes that the outcome will always be the same regardless of whoever he shares the ring with.

If Deontay Wilder yearns for the type of recognition that Wladimir Klitschko receives, he’ll need to earn it… and he won’t be able to do that fighting the likes of Eric Molina, who I genuinely believe is the sort of guy that a novice like Anthony Joshua should have faced five fights ago.

In my opinion, a so-called “world heavyweight champion” that would have has faced 33 journeymen over the span of 34 fights (by the close of play on the 13th June), fails to make the grade... and is someone I cannot support!

I wonder if you read a lot of the replies that mentioned it is his first title defense, and one that he is probably testing his newly healed hand with. I think we can all agree Wilder has been brought along slowly, but in my opinion, correctly considering his very limited amateur experience.

If you look at his last 10 opponents, I believe there are a couple of guys with a lot of experience, ones that could punch, and ones that had their own shot at a title. I think Wlad took on a couple of those guys himself. What many people forget is that when you have a unified champ, or close to it, not many even get a title shot. Wlad has allowed some a shot at the title that had no business being there. Wlad treats all his title challengers equally but Wilder doesn't? Serious statement? lol

Lets just see how his hand does, and who he fights after Molina. I think the choice of opponent is crap, but I do understand why. Taking the least path of resistance has nothing to do with it.

[dominik]

I think an easy first defense is OK, wlad fought some guys like Molina too (leapai, mormeck). just hope that he steps up after that.

[Cap]

Funny. I thought it was the promoter who decided what kind of a cut each guy gets.

[Badhusker]

I’m sure that American fight fans won’t moan too much about Deontay choosing to take the path of least resistance, as they’re probably rather happy that a small part of the heavyweight championship has returned to their shores.

Unfortunately though, whilst his honesty should be commended, it frustrates me that Wilder has openly admitted that he’ll only face title challengers that are willing to accept small paydays (barring any mandatories that has to perform, but he’ll still get a 75% cut for those anyway if the bouts go to purse bids).

In stark contrast, whether this is borne out of his own arrogance or not, but Wladimir Klitschko seemingly treats all his title challengers equally and he’ll face anyone, because he genuinely believes that the outcome will always be the same regardless of whoever he shares the ring with.

If Deontay Wilder yearns for the type of recognition that Wladimir Klitschko receives, he’ll need to earn it… and he won’t be able to do that fighting the likes of Eric Molina, who I genuinely believe is the sort of guy that a novice like Anthony Joshua should have faced five fights ago.

In my opinion, a so-called “world heavyweight champion” that would have has faced 33 journeymen over the span of 34 fights (by the close of play on the 13th June), fails to make the grade... and is someone I cannot support!

I wonder if you read a lot of the replies that mentioned it is his first title defense, and one that he is probably testing his newly healed hand with. I think we can all agree Wilder has been brought along slowly, but in my opinion, correctly considering his very limited amateur experience.

If you look at his last 10 opponents, I believe there are a couple of guys with a lot of experience, ones that could punch, and ones that had their own shot at a title. I think Wlad took on a couple of those guys himself. What many people forget is that when you have a unified champ, or close to it, not many even get a title shot. Wlad has allowed some a shot at the title that had no business being there. Wlad treats all his title challengers equally but Wilder doesn't? Serious statement? lol

Lets just see how his hand does, and who he fights after Molina. I think the choice of opponent is crap, but I do understand why. Taking the least path of resistance has nothing to do with it.

For the sake of the boxing, I genuinely harbour hopes that Deontay Wilder is “the real thing” and can find a way to dominate the division and elevate the sport to garnering interest from the mainstream in a similar way to Ali & Tyson’s title reigns.

Let's not forget though that Deontay Wilder took up the sport of boxing almost a decade ago, winning the National Golden Gloves and US Championships, as well as being an Olympic Bronze medallist, as an amateur.

By the time he shares the ring with Eric Molina next Saturday, he would have competed in 34 fights as a professional, but the only recognisable name on his resume that warrants any sort of praise, was his WBC title-winning effort against Bermane Stiverne.

Therefore, I feel that we’ve ventured past the stage of his “inexperience” as holding any relevance to justify his extraordinarily slow career progression, because he’s been in the sport longer than what it took for Mike Tyson to start boxing at the age of 12 and to then unify the world heavyweight championship.

If we compare the accomplishments that Deontay Wilder and Bernard Hopkins gained in the 9 ½ years between starting the sport in an official capacity to their equivalent accomplishments over the same time-frame, “The Executioner managed to compete in ten IBF world middleweight title fights (and already had his 11th world title bout lined up).

“The Bronze Bomber” this week clarified the reason why he has chosen to compete against another "no-hoper" rather than face a genuine world-rated contender… and he explained that they want too much money. He only wants to fight men that are willing to take small paydays (his words), as he’s giving them an “opportunity”.

So unfortunately for fight fans, it seems that Deontay is primarily focussed on wealth rather than building a legacy of being known as a genuine champion that is willing to face all-comers.

I think we’ll “agree to disagree” on this matter, because it seems as though you’re personally satisfied with the calibre of opposition that Wilder faces, whereas it annoys me that American fight fans seem to lavish him with high praise, by choosing to defend his decisions that I find quite unpalatable.

ferg, a little fyi - if you didn't write a "book" every time you posted, people would be more inclined to respond, and not be irritated. I think some of my own posts are too long. Be short - to the point.