By Scott Gilfoid: #8 WBC Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs) has been sparring with former world title challenger Eric Molina (24-3, 18 KOs) to get ready for a title shot of his own against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) on January 16th from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Molina, 33, was stopped in the 9th round by Deontay last year in June in a fight that took place in Birmingham, Alabama. Molina had his moments in the fight in twice stunning Wilder with big shots. However, Wilder took over the fight completely by the 6th round and never looked back.
Molina should have taken advantage of the fact that Wilder rarely used his right hand in the fight due to him coming off of a fractured hand in his previous fight against Bermane Stiverne in January of this year. Molina fought too timidly, and was unable to take advantage of the one-armed Wilder.
“I have had some really good sparring with Molina. Both of our trainers are impressed by what I can do and they tell me that if I box in the same way [when I face Wilder] as I’m doing in training – I should overcome Wilder,” Szpilka said via skysports.com.
I don’t see how sparring with a guy that Wilder knocked out is going to help Szpilka ever defeat the real McCoy himself in the talented Deontay. I mean, if the idea is to beat Wilder, don’t you think that Szpilka should be sparring someone who at least hasn’t been knocked out by Wilder? It’s too bad Dillian Whyte is coming off of shoulder surgery, because I think he would be perfect for Szpilka to spar with if he could hire him as a sparring partner.
Here's something to think about as we go into 2016. I want to wish everyone a very happy and blessed #HappyNewYear. pic.twitter.com/eRC8WJoUef
— Deontay Wilder (@BronzeBomber) December 31, 2015
There isn’t much more time for Szpilka to train for the Wilder fight, as it’s about two weeks away. If Szpilka isn’t prepared by now for the fight, then he sure as heck won’t be ready in another two weeks. For a talent like Wilder, you need a ton of time to prepare, and Szpilka clearly didn’t get a lot of time to get ready for this fight. The only thing that Szpilka has going for him is his youth. He’s 26-years-old, so maybe he doesn’t need as much time as older heavyweights to prepare for a fight.
“Molina is giving me some really good sparring… though he boxes a little different, a little wiser than Wilder,” Szpilka said. “I realize that I can do something extraordinary and I am already looking forward to the day of the fight.”
Molina, 6’4”, has nothing in common with the 6’7” Wilder in terms of size, speed, punching power or fighting style. It’s like apples and oranges. There is nothing that Szpilka can glean from his sparring time with Molina that is going to translate over into the ring on January 16th to help him defeat Deontay. The only thing I can think of that Molina will help Szpilka prepare for is the punching power of Wilder.
Even in that department, Molina doesn’t come close to matching Deontay’s raw power in both hands. However, Molina does punch hard, and that should at least get Szpilka prepared to be getting nailed with monstrous shots by Wilder. I just hope that Szpilka doesn’t get worn out from being getting tagged so much by Molina in training camp. I wouldn’t want to see Szplika come into the ring half-stubbed against Wilder on 1/16.
Szpilka didn’t drop any hints about what he plans on doing against Wilder to try and win the fight, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure that he’s going to try and bum rush him. Molina had his best success against Deontay when he was coming after him and putting pressure on him. Wilder looked a little surprised in the 4th with Molina suddenly going after him for the first time in the fight. There had no resistance at all from Molina until round 4. Wilder was cutting through Molina like a hot knife through a tab of butter before that. If Szpilka can try and jump on Wilder early in the fight, then that would be his best chance of getting the victory. But if Szpilka fights timidly and doesn’t go after Wilder, then I see this as an easy fight for Wilder.
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