(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME®) By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) realizes he’s in with a big guy with good punching power in facing the 6’4″ Eric Molina (23-2, 17 KOs) this Saturday night on Showtime from the Bartow Arena, in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
While few boxing fans and media members are giving the 33-year-old Molina much of a chance due to the incredible talent of the 6’7” Wilder, Molina is still a very live threat in this fight due to his big punching power.
Molina has got the kind of power that would enable him to KO anybody in boxing if he can land his best shots. That’s the thing with Molina that gets him in trouble. He tends to plod forward 24/7 looking to knock his opponent’s block off, resulting sometimes in him getting hurt. Molina would be a better heavyweight if he used more finesse in the way he attacks his opposition. He’s got the power, but he just doesn’t know how to protect himself to enable him to use that incredible power.
“Molina’s height is something to watch out for,” Wilder said. “Everybody likes two tall guys in the ring. I’m definitely going to find out if his bark is as big as his bite. Right now his bark is loud. But we’ll see if his bite is as loud as his bark.”
If Molina comes directly at Wilder like he did in his fight against Chris Arreola three years ago, I can see Wilder stopping Molina in the 1st round. Wilder destroys guys that come at him the way that Molina typically does. The only reason why Wilder didn’t obliterate his last opponent Bermane Stiverne in the early rounds was because Wilder broke his right hand on the head of the shorter Stiverne.
Of course, Stiverne also has a very good chin, and he took some incredible shots from Wilder in that fight. The kin of punches that Stiverne took were shots that would have knocked most heavyweights out. The heavyweights that would survive Wilder’s early shots would be feeling really bad and likely punch drunk by the time they reached the sixth round.
I’m looking forward to making history being that this is the first title fight in the state of Alabama,” Wilder said. “I have to perform better than I did the last time. I don’t watch video or study my opponents because the way you may see them fight someone else is not the same way that they’re going to fight you.”
Molina hasn’t had a difficult fight since his bout with Arreola in 2012. In his last four fights, Molina has beaten Raphael Zumbano Love, Theo Kruger, DaVarryl Williamson and Tony Grano. Those are some decent C-level fighters, and Molina showed in those wins that he’s definitely a quality B-level heavyweight. I don’t see Molina as being an A-level guy because he’s got too many flaws in his game in terms of his defensive skills, but his power makes up for his lack of defense in many cases. I just don’t think it’s going to help him in this fight on Saturday against Wilder.
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