Deontay "Bronze Bomber" Wilder looked vulnerable at times in his first defense of the WBC heavyweight title vs. Eric "Drummer Boy" Molina, proving that despite his prodigious power he has a lot of development remaining in his game.
Staying active will be crucial to that, and Wilder said he is aiming to fight four times a year, even if it spoils a date with Alexander Povetkin, the mandatory challenger.
Wilder's agent Jay Deas said that negotiations for some fights can take a long time, which may interfere with the schedule he wants to establish.
"You have to realize that you can work on those things, but those things take six months to a year. Those things take a while to make. We're not sitting around and waiting until next June to fight just because it's Povetkin. If we can get September, we'll get September, and we're bringing it back to a level where these guys are on TV and they're fighting often."
Wilder had many doubters heading into his January fight vs. then-WBC champion Bermane Stiverne, and won convincingly despite injuring his hand early in the bout. The majority of Wilder's opposition has been questionable though, and Molina was closer to his previous level of opponents than to Stiverne's.
Povetkin, on the other hand, has reeled off three straight wins vs. quality opponents after a 2013 defeat against Wladimir Klitschko. Povetkin has earned three straight knockouts, the most recent being a first-round TKO of Mike Perez. The Klitschko loss was the only defeat of Povetkin's career, and 21 of his 29 wins have come by way of knockout.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
