What should be said about Deontay Wilder now?

[Spicoli]

Probably what some have said before last night. His chin is questionable, he is stiff with overrated predictable bow & arrow delivery and power and wasted too much time padding his record with blow outs where he learned zero. I really do think he is full of false confidence. Now is at the top where every flaw is magnified and his margin for error very narrow as he cannot go lower than a Molina who had him looking wreckless and amateurish. This was his homecoming "showcase" gimme and its only going to get much much tougher. What stood out to me was how bad his defense is on the backfoot...he is straight line and literally paws. His head does not move..the shoulders do a bit and he can bend at the waist..but that head and neck remain in basically one unblinking position. Molina had no business landing as many right hands as he did and taking ground. I don't think he beats Povetkin.

[bzkfn]

Probably what some have said before last night. His chin is questionable, he is stiff with overrated predictable bow & arrow delivery and power and wasted too much time padding his record with blow outs where he learned zero. I really do think he is full of false confidence. Now is at the top where every flaw is magnified and his margin for error very narrow as he cannot go lower than a Molina who had him looking wreckless and amateurish. This was his homecoming "showcase" gimme and its only going to get much much tougher. What stood out to me was how bad his defense is on the backfoot...he is straight line and literally paws. His head does not move..the shoulders do a bit and he can bend at the waist..but that head and neck remain in basically one unblinking position. Molina had no business landing as many right hands as he did and taking ground. I don't think he beats Povetkin.

Pretty much agree with most of this. The worst part about his defense backing up is he just leaves his chin out to dry. He's an idiot if he thinks that'll continue to go unpunished.

[Ron Swanson]

Opinions of Deontay should be almost the same as on Friday. Sports fans tend to only look at what they last saw. That's silly. All evidence should be considered.

OH, those myopic 'sports fans' again....looking at what they ~last~ saw....except that, what they "last" saw was the fight itself.

Did you have an opinion?

[Vendettos]

Was it really just a "bad day at the office" for Wilder? That's what some of the apologists would say.

Was it a case of getting your big pay day and having a little bit of fun and neglecting the training and hunger that got you the title in the first place? That is what some of the haters would say.

Was it a case of his opponent, Eric Molina, just being better than what was anticipated from him? That is what matchmakers would say as an excuse to give Wilder that match-up in the first place.

Was it a case of Wilder carrying Molina to give the fans some excitement? That is what the conspiracy mobsters of the fight game would say behind closed doors.

Was it a case of home-crowd nerves on Wilder's part? That's what people in Alabama would say who have not seen him fight, up close, at the elite level in the last 3 years or so when he left the local scene.

Was it a case of Wilder's right hand not healing up properly since the Stiverne fight? Could be, because he didn't throw much of it as we were used to seeing. In fact, his left hook did more damage outside of the finishing punch.

Was it a case of Eric Molina showing us a blueprint on how to break Wilder down and beat him? Could be, and this is what prospective opponents with more skill, chin and determination would say as their consolation to preparing to fight Wilder.

Is any of it something to worry about moving forward? Possibly not. But, then again, in my opinion, it really is. Especially if Wilder wants to win more and more at the elite level.

Not to take away from his opponent, Eric Molina, but Wilder may be suffering from at least three of these scenarios:

I feel he got his first bit of real money having beaten Stiverne, knew he was in with a supposedly soft opponent in Molina, did not train as hard as he should have, Molina came up for the fight, prepared well and had a real game plan that can work well for Wilder's opponents in the future- That is, stay away as much as you can from Wilder in the early rounds, hit him with hard body shots early to middle, and then wait for him to lose some steam on his legs and then take him up top when you can.

The only thing Molina did wrong in his loss to Wilder was that Molina did not commit hard enough to the body by at least round three, and Molina was getting afraid of being hit more than he was interested in giving back some punishment- which was not by a great margin his fear to courage factor, but enough to give Wilder a few chances he should not have had.

The beginning of a blueprint is out there: Run from Wilder for the first three rounds or so, hit the body early, and hard, and don't stop hitting the body even when you start to mix it up to the head. Wilder will lose steam, and he will be there for you to stop him.

I think Wilder's chin is better than what people expected of him. Give Wilder credit for that. But he will have the Tommy Hearns effect ala Sugar Ray Leonard in their first fight. I'm almost certain of it.

Povetkin is next for Wilder, if all things go smoothly in the fight game. Povetkin can learn from this fight, more than anyone can learn from Wilder's fight vs. Stiverne.

Yh I aint reading any of that at all.

Wilder proved a himself a joke, if that left hook that caught him in the third was from someone like Tommy Morrison, Wilder would be flat out.

Joshua, Fury, Price, Haye and even Dillian Whyte could beat him by landing a shot, based on his performance against Molina.

And that is just in England.

[Dark Lord Al]

Wilder is inexperienced because the vast majority of his fights have ended early and the opposition was poor.
He will have to learn fast if he doesn't want to be carried out feet first.

[greynotsoold]

If he is still alive and saw that last night, lngemar Johansson has to be thinking comeback.

[Beanflicker]

Could be a case of Wilder taking his man lightly, but I think it's a little short sighted to talk about how Arreola took him out early so Deontay should have as well. Molina hurt Arreola, got reckless and ran in with his hands down, and got caught with a big counter left hook. In this fight, Molina was a lot more defensively minded and didn't go crazy even when he seemed to hurt Deontay. It's a tough when you're fighting a 240lb guy with big power, who just wants to sit back and have you walk into a counter haymaker.

I think it's pretty clear Deontay needs to diversify his offensive attack and learn to better disguise that big right hand, but to start writing him off because it took 8 rounds to KO a guy is a bit foolish IMO.

[Sleepwalker]

Wilder looked a little gassed after the 4th. This was mainly due to him missing so many overexerting hard shots. The body punches landed by Molina may have had something to do with that as well.

Imagine if Molina had committed to the body more often.

Did anyone catch Holyfield's expression right after the fight was called? The first that came to mind, I believed Holyfield was thinking: "i KNOW I could have beaten this guy".

Sure, the commentator said something like: "...and there's Holyfield who looks impressed". I didn't get that vibe at all.

[X]

some thoughts;

Firstly, Evander did look distinctly unimpressed!

1. Wilder is definitely exciting. You can't take your eyes off his fights because SOMETHING will definitely happen. Wlad is a vastly superior fighter, but he is much less exciting.

2. He is a magnificent athlete, good size, looks like a proper athlete with no fat. Good coordination.

3. He seems a classy enough guy, good jab, decent left hook and definitely big knockout power.

4. Unfortunately, he hasn't learned his trade. He has actually had very little ring time to learn to box properly and maximise his assets. I fear this will be his undoing as his defence under pressure was truly awful. He pulls back in a straight line, fends his opponent off with his arms and leans back from the shot with his chin out. You can get away with that for a while, but when he fights someone the same size as him I think he will get tagged

5. He is definitely vulnerable when he gets hit.

I quite like a Wilder, but I suspect his reign may not last long. Wlad would win easily, and I also rate Povetkin as a very good skilled technician. I think Pov might have a little bit too much for Deontay. Unless Wilder connects with an early bomb, I can't see how he beats the Russian. Can you imagine what someone like Vitali, Evander, Riddick or Iron Mike would have done to Wilder?.

[Gandalf]

Wilder is a bit like a HW Amir Khan IMO. He makes a lot of mistakes and will lose fights, but he will always make them fun. I think he gets sparked the minute he fights one of the big men as he goes back in straight lines and doesn't seem sturdy enough.

[ono]

I think when a fighter is rocked like Wilder was, he does lose a little bit of his aura. He is very raw, and he will get away with that against 95% of the division and even in the fights where he may not be getting away win it, his power could get him out of trouble.

He still looks novice like when he lets his hands go but he somehow managed to generate great power.

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking that Joshua was a couple of years away from a Wilder fight, but I actually think if they went in together now it's a 50-50 fight. And in a year or so, forget about it. Joshua irons him out.

[Fenster]

I thought the Atomic Windmill looked poor because Molina was in survival mode from the opening second, and Wilder came into the fight - like everyone else - thinking that a few solid clumps and it's goodnight Irene.

Joshua would iron him tomorrow let alone a years time.