By Jake Donovan
The proof was there to be found in Deontay Wilder’s last ring appearance, as his 12-round landslide win over Bermane Stiverne generated big numbers for pay-cable network Showtime.
It’s showing up again at the box office. His first title defense versus lightly regarded Eric Molina will play to a sold out arena this weekend at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, less than an hour from his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Heavyweights still matter, especially those with unbeaten records and infectious personalities. Wilder is putting that theory to the test, as he sees this weekend as the next step towards his goal of not just ruling the heavyweight division, but carrying the sport on his back.
“Oh, definitely,” Wilder (33-0, 32KOs) says of the possibility of one day landing as the most identifiable boxing figure in the world. “Most definitely, and I say that with high confidence because the heavyweight division is the cream of the crop in the first place, and the things that I bring, the excitement, the personality that I have, everything about me is all me, is totally me.
“Some people, some guys when they have cameras in their face, they pursue to be a certain type of person. Their persona about them changes or whatever, and then when the camera is off, they’re a whole totally different person. I don’t have flip personalities. I’m not a fake person.”
There was certainly nothing fake about Wilder’s title-winning effort – unless of course you consider the belt he holds to be fabricated. The undefeated heavyweight had never been beyond the 4th round of any fight in his life, with questions abound of what would happen when Stiverne takes his best shot.
Wilder emphatically answered those questions – the knockout never came, but he piled up points on the scorecards. The outcome was never in doubt, nor did the 29-year old ever show any real signs of slowing down or relinquishing his lead. Save for an injured hand suffered midway through the bout – simply from landing too many power punches – it was as close to a perfect night as Wilder could have asked for, even without the knockout ending.
The fact that he went 12 rounds perhaps answered more questions than had he extended his knockout streak to 33 straight. Future opponents are now well aware of his being a threat from round one to 12, although few if anyone expects this weekend’s bout – which headlines a Showtime-televised doubleheader (Saturday, 9:00 p.m. ET) – to last very long.
What this first title defense represents is Wilder’s ability to draw. Forget ticket demand for this fight, the idea of Wilder fighting at home during any point in his pro career was enough for state officials to band together and reinstitute the Alabama Boxing Commission, which had previously disbanded.
The end result of that movement came more than two years into his pro career, with Wilder instead making his pro debut in Nashville – a three-hour road trip but far enough across the Alabama/Tennessee border to where it wasn’t at home. His Nov. ’08 debut came on the heels of his capturing a Bronze medal during the 2008 Beijing Games, the only member from the 2008 U.S. Olympic boxing squad – and the last American male boxer – to bring home a medal.
It wasn’t until Feb. ’10 when Wilder was able to play in front of a hometown crowd. Saturday’s bout will mark his sixth career bout in the state of Alabama; none of those fights would have happened had neither Wilder nor longtime manager and co-trainer Jay Deas lobbied for a state commission in order to revive the Alabama boxing scene and allow it to evolve beyond the club show level.
“This definitely was the ultimate goal,” Wilder says of this weekend’s fight, the first ever heavyweight title fight in Alabama. “[W]e set forth a goal to getting a commission here. We had a lot of great champions that’s from here but couldn’t get fight due to the fact that there was no commission here. I already had plans of after the Olympics turning pro and staying and residing here in my home state.”
Once Wilder was able to fight at home, the plan was to get local sports fans to embrace boxing, a tall-ordered in SEC (Southeastern Conference) college football-crazed country.
“I had a vision for this state,” Wilder recalled of his initial goal. “I wanted to make it bigger than just college football. I gave them opportunities to have a professional sport here, and that’s boxing, so once we got our commission, it was uphill from there. A lot of people have gotten on board. A lot of people have never troubled with boxing, period, in their life, until they read about the story of my movement, what’s going on, and a lot of people had lost interest in boxing until they read about my story, my movement. Now, they’re on board.
“So, it became a bit of a thing for the state of Alabama now, so they put me on top as far as the sport is concerned here in the state of Alabama because there’s nothing like a world sport, nothing. Nothing national can compete with a world-level sport.”
History also suggests there’s nothing like a successful heavyweight to head up its cause. With many of the sport’s current biggest draws on the way out, the hunt is on for new blood to serve as the face of boxing’s future.
Where Wilder believes he separates from the rest of the pack is the fact that what you see is what you get. It’s for that reason he believes he can literally become the biggest star in the world – and not just entirely due to his 6’7” frame and massive 83” wingspan. That he’s able to carry on as a man of the people goes a long way in rallying the masses.
“Everything about me is real, everything you see, even the ALL ACCESS (on SHOWTIME),” Wilder insists, complete with a perhaps unintended dig at reigning pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, though more so to anyone who tends to switch personalities the moment the camera begins to roll. “You know, you all watch the ALL ACCESS, everything is me. Nothing is scripted. Nothing is planned out, nothing. I can’t sit back and let somebody script something out about my life and what it is because it’ll be fake, and I won’t be able to go through with it because it wouldn’t be me.”
His personality – couple with the ability to fight and entertain in the ring – is what he and many believe to be a winning formula in reviving interest in the heavyweight division.
There could come a day when he gets to have his say versus reigning World lineal heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko. A win there against the still-dominant ruler would undoubtedly send Wilder’s star power through the roof. A loss would only be as damaging as the manner in which it is suffered.
Whether or not the fight happens remains to be seen. For now, people are once again talking about the heavyweight division.
Wilder’s win over Stiverne was the fourth most-viewed fight on Showtime since Nielsen began regularly tracking data on the network in 2004. Klitschko’s recent 12-round win over Bryant Jennings currently rates as the second most-viewed fight of 2015. Across the Atlantic there exists another hulking heavyweight, brash unbeaten Tyson Fury who is currently in negotiations for a mandatory title fight with Klitschko.
There is plenty of interest in the heavyweight division, both present and future. As long as Wilder can keep winning, he believes it will help lead to the sport’s eventual return to its glory years.
“I think I bring a lot of excitement to this division,” Wilder believes. “I have woken up a lot of people as far as friends to come back to the division and stuff like that, and I know I’m doing the right things. People love me. That’s what it’s all about, but I’m just glad to be a part of the movement because we’ve got a lot of other exciting heavyweights that have made it – come back alive again as well too, whether it’s bashing up the talking or whether it’s the excitement of the performance of their fights.
“So, the division is definitely on the rise, and I’m looking to be the biggest thing in boxing, period.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox