Deontay Wilder to fight on September 26th, Arreola and Tony Thompson possibilities

By Boxing News - 06/14/2015 - Comments

wilder5555(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Scott Gilfoid: WBC #1 mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin will have to wait for his title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) a little while longer, as Wilder will be taking a voluntary defense on September 26th in California, Las Vegas or Biloxi, Mississippi, according to CBS Sports. The leading candidates for Wilder’s next title defense is Tony Thompson (40-5, 27 KOs) and Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KOs).

Those are two good solid fringe contenders that are capable of beating a lot of the top heavyweights in the division on a good day. The Povetkin fight will likely take place in 2016 for Wilder, although the negotiations will start by October.

Wilder, 6’7”, successfully defended his WBC title last Saturday night with a 9th round knockout win over #9 WBC Eric Molina (23-3, 17 KOs) in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilder put Molina down four times in the fight. There have been some fans that have griped that Wilder should have knocked Molina out sooner, but Wilder wasn’t really putting out a lot effort to try and get Molina out quickly. He was taking his time, looking for openings, and above on working on using his left hook and jab a lot more than in his previous fights.

“I would like September 26th. That’s the date I had in mind,” said Wilder’s trainer Jay Deas via cbssports.com. “If we can get September, we’ll get September. We’re taking it back to when guys are on TV and fighting often.”

That’s a little over three months from now when Wilder will be fighting next if he sticks to the September 26th date that Deas is talking about. That’s more than enough time for Wilder to heal up from his battle wounds that he incurred against the 6’4” Molina last Saturday.

Arreola would be an ideal opponent to prepare Wilder for a fight against Povetkin next year. They’re both around the same height, same power and same age. Povetlkin obviously is more a more talented fighter with a more technical type style than Arreola, but they’re still close enough in size and power for him to make a good opponent for Wilder to take to get him ready for what he’ll be dealing with when he gets inside the ring with Povetkin in 2016.

Arreola is scheduled to fight on July 18th against an opponent still to be determined at the Don Haskins Convention Center, in El Paso, Texas, USA. Unless they’re hoping that Arreola destroys his opponent in one or two rounds, I think he might have to be pulled from that card if they decide to use him for Wilder’s next title defense in September. There would be only two months for Arreola to recover from his July fight to get ready to fight Wilder on September 26th if he gets picked out.

Thompson, 43, would be a good opponent as well for Wilder, but he’s someone that Wilder would have to stay in the trenches and look to destroy immediately. Wilder couldn’t use the same fighting style against him that he did against Molina because Thompson would walk Wilder down if he backed up against him and cause problems. The best way to beat Thompson is to jump on him from the opening bell and flurry on him until he drops. That’s what Wladimir Klitschko did in their second fight in 2012 and it worked well with Wladimir scoring a 6th round stoppage.



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