By Keith Idec
Chris Arreola was so surprised the Deontay Wilder-Eric Molina fight lasted as long as it did, the heavyweight contender is convinced Wilder “carried” Molina into the later rounds.
Arreola (36-4, 31 KOs, 1 NC) knocked out Molina in the first round of their February 2012 fight and didn’t expect Molina to last much longer against the hard-hitting Wilder, who might fight Arreola on Sept. 26. The undefeated WBC heavyweight champion didn’t knock out Molina (23-3, 17 KOs) until the ninth round, and not before Molina wobbled the heavily favored hometown fighter in the third round of their June 13 bout in Birmingham, Alabama.
“To be honest with you, when I watched that fight I didn’t think it was going to last two, three rounds,” Arreola said. “Personally, I think that Wilder carried him. Personally, I think that Wilder wanted to get himself rounds. I don’t think that Wilder was really trying to take him out until he actually pushed on the gas. Wilder, you know, he was trying to showcase and sometimes trying to showcase, you get caught. And he got caught a couple times with some stupid shots he shouldn’t have been caught with.
“That’s why I never, never want to go rounds. I don’t care how much a guy sucks – I want to get him out of there as soon as I can. All it takes is one punch to get knocked out. And I honestly believe that Wilder was just showcasing. I believe that Wilder was just carrying him [throughout] the fight. I take nothing out of that fight. I take no honor in taking out Molina quicker than him.”
Arreola’s opinion of the Wilder-Molina outcome is particularly relevant because he is considered a potential opponent for Wilder’s optional title defense Sept. 26 at an undetermined site. The Riverside, California, native first must get past Cameroon’s Fred Kassi (18-3, 10 KOs) in their scheduled 10-rounder July 18 at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas (CBS; 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT).
The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Arreola is confident he can dethrone the 6-7, 230-pound Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs), though that confidence stems more from Wilder’s win against Bermane Stiverne, who defeated Arreola twice, than Wilder’s performance against Molina.
“It didn’t encourage me,” Arreola, 34, said of the Wilder-Molina fight. “It didn’t make me feel any better or any different [about beating Wilder]. What I got too see more off of is when he fought Stiverne. Now that fight was a good fight. That fight is a fight where I seen a lot of Wilder, a lot of mistakes – a lot of good and a lot of bad in Wilder. As far as him fighting Molina – did it encourage me? Man, honestly, I don’t fear nobody. I love fighting. I want to fight him just because I want to fight him, especially now that he has the title. And do I believe I could fight him? Yes. I believe that styles make fights. And I believe that he hasn’t been in the ring with someone like me, someone that really doesn’t give a crap.
“I really don’t care about myself. I really care about winning the fight. I’m willing to put my life on the line because I want to win a fight. The time that I cried when my trainer stopped it, I didn’t cry because I quit or anything. I didn’t quit. I cried because of my pride. I’m a prideful motherf---er. I have too much pride for myself. And to quit, that’s horrible.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.