By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) will be looking to show off his talent this Saturday night against the big punching Eric Molina (23-2, 17 KOs) on Showtime from the Barstow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. For Deontay, this is another fight matching him against a guy with excellent power.
In Deontay’s last fight he conquered Bermane Stiverne last January in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision to take his WBC title from him. Wilder took an occasional big shot from Stiverne, but he was able to handle his power with no problems.
Molina, 33, is going to need to go for broke on Saturday by going after Wilder at start of the fight, because if Molina waits too long, he’s going to get knocked out. As it is, Molina is taking a huge step up in class in facing the 6’7” Wilder. We’re talking about a fighter coming from facing the likes of Raphael Zumbano Love and Theo Kruger in his last two fights to facing arguably the best heavyweight on the planet.
If Wilder isn’t the best, he’s easily the most dangerous heavyweight in the planet right now due to his huge punching power. Molina will have to close his eyes and swing for the fences the second the fight starts otherwise it’s likely to end badly for him.
Deontay is on a mission to unify all the heavyweight titles. The guy that Deontay has to beat to win those straps if IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Deontay wants to get that fight before the 39-year-old Ukrainian gets too much older and loses to someone else. Deontay thinks that Wladimir is starting to show serious signs of aging, and deterioration in his performances.
Deontay is hoping that Wladimir will face him before he gets too much older because that’s the only chance he has. If he ages more, he’s going to be walking into a situation where he’ll be basically handing over his titles to Deontay like it’s a ceremony.
“When I set forth becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, I got one part of it becoming the heavyweight champion, the WBC heavyweight champion of the world. I’ve still got a long way to go,” Deontay said. “I’m excited to have this opportunity to get back in the ring and display my talent more.”
As I stated before, Deontay probably has the best punching power in the heavyweight division right now. Whatever he lacks in terms of skills, he more than makes up with in punching power. The thing with Deontay is it only takes one big punch from him to create problems for his opponents. That’s why he’s likely to be someone that the top contenders won’t be too excited to face.
Right now, the contenders have an option of facing him, WBA champ Ruslan Chagaev or Wladimir. It’s pretty obvious that Chagaev and Wladimir are the guys that the contenders are targeting due to those two guys starting to show their age. In contrast, Deontay is still young and has his Tommy Hearns type power, and a lot of hand speed to go with it.
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