By Frank Warren
Just for a second or so, my old spar-mate Don King must have thought he was back in the big-time when Deontay Wilder’s legs wobbled in the third round as he was caught by Eric Molina, a big lump from Texas last weekend.
I bet his old heart skipped a beat, as the tubby Tex-Mex was King’s man, his only remaining world champion Bermane Stiverne having surrendered his WBC heavyweight title to Wilder six months before.
The Don may be nudging 84, but he doesn’t lie down easily. He was up there in the ring with Molina in Birmingham, Alabama his fists clutching and waving so many flags you’d have thought he was a peace envoy for the United Nations.
Unfortunately for him after momentarily looking vulnerable for the first time in his 34 fight career Wilder eventually did his usual demolition job in the ninth. But he was far from impressive.
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After singing Wilder’s praises when he won the title, I was really disappointed with his performance against Molina. He looked apprehensive, hesitant and was clearly labouring at times, seeming nonplussed whenever he was put on the back foot by the crude forward charging of a foot soldier who supposedly was handpicked as no-hope opponent.
However he used his great asset – his crunching punching power – to finally do the job after Molina had been down four times.
On this evidence, Wilder did not look the heavyweight saviour the Americans have been yearning for.
On what we saw, I’d take Tyson Fury and several other top ten heavyweights to beat him though it could be that Wilder didn’t want to do a rush job in the first title fight in Alabama for years, needing to give the fans a show. Unfortunately he lost concentration in making his initial defence in his home state. It could well be different next time.