Boxing Challenge-Wilder struggles past Molina

A less than explosive night in boxing covered two networks and the boxing challenge on Saturday night as we discovered more questions than answers.

On Showtime,Deontay Wilder was expected to crush Eric Molina early in front of a excited home crowd in Birmingham,Alabama in the first defense of his WBC heavyweight title in boxing's version of a pro wrestling squash match.
Instead,Wilder struggled at times and was rocked in the third round against a fighter that really was not deserving of a title opportunity before stopping Molina in round nine.
Wilder did floor Molina three times,but looked like more Michael Grant than Lennox Lewis and I have a feeling that his chin might not hold up in the long haul.
Wilder will next face Alexander Povetkin in a mandatory defense and should be severely tested.
Povetkin is the second best heavyweight in the world and his right hand could be the litmus test for the chin of Wilder that I question...

Jose Pedraza won the IBF Jr.Lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Andrey Klimov and looked pretty impressive doing it.
Pedraza ripped Klimov to the body and threw a lot of punches.
I'd be interesting in seeing more of Pedraza soon....

In New York on HBO,featherweight Nicholas Walters dropped his WBA title on the scales when he failed to make weight and that advantage helped Walters use his size for a unanimous decision over Miguel Marriaga.
Walters scored a ninth round knockdown in a bout that looked to be a good one on paper turned out to be a bout that lacked fireworks.
Walters was expected to face Vasyl Lomachenko in his next bout,but that is possibly on ice with the questions with Walters being unable to make 126.

Felix Verdejo scored an unanimous decision over brave Ivan Najera with knockdowns in rounds five and seven.
Verdejo injured his left hand,yet dominated the undefeated Najera,who never quit trying,but was in a different class from Puerto Rico's Verdejo,who looks to be a star in the near future..

In the boxing challenge,R.L.Malpica and I each earned six points on the evening.
Two each for the Wilder and Pedraza wins and one each for the Verdejo and Walters victories.
I hold my lead in the challenge at 73-72.

I plan on being in Harrisburg today for the Trenton Thunder,but hope to be back for game five of the NBA finals.
If I would stay home,I'll be doing either an On the signing front from the latest autograph news or a Cleaning out the inbox from the non-sports world.
Either way,I'll get those knocked out early  next week!