Showtime Quick Picks

Deontay Wilder vs. Eric Molina: For most of his career Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KO) has been two things, criticized and hyped.  He has been criticized for fight tomato can after tomato can but also hyped because of his electric power.  Following the biggest win of his career against his first name opponent in Bermane Stiverne, Wilder is set to make his return to the ring this Saturday night on Showtime.  That return will be against Eric Molina (23-2, 17 KO) a fighter that somehow managed to get ranked number seven by the WBC.  The fight is scheduled to go 12 rounds and Wilder's WBC heavyweight title will be on the line.  Wilder is a lean, long heavyweight with a good jab out of the orthodox stance.  Along with that jab Wilder has a mean left hook and a deadly overhand right.  Going into his last fight many question remained but he seemed to answer most of them.  Wilder's chin stood up to the heavy handed Stiverne and he was able to box well despite being wild in spots.  Molina is also an orthodox fighter who has a decent jab and a mile wide overhand right hand, although he tightens it up when he drops it down low.  Molina doesn't have much of a left hook and while he doesn't have top end power if he catches you with his overhand right it will do damage.  The problem for Molina is his chin, the best fighter he has faced was Chris Arreola and Arreola knocked him out in the very 1st round with an overhand right, Wilder's best punch.  While fans certainly hoped to see Wilder in with a better opponent that will have to wait.  For now they will have to be happy with seeing Wilder knockout Molina in the 5th round on Saturday night.


Jose Pedraza vs. Andrey Klimov: The co-feature on Saturday's card will be a junior lightweight title fight for the vacant IBF title.  That fight will be between Jose Pedraza (19-0, 12 KO) and Andrey Klimov (19-1, 9 KO).  Pedraza is an orthodox fighter with decent power but he certainly isn't a knockout artist.  He is a fighter who loves to work the body and he does so with a strong left hook and quality right hand.  Pedraza also has a very good straight right hand and he puts his punches together well.  Klimov is also an orthodox fighter but he has no real power to speak of.  Between the two Klimov has faced a much higher level of competition, beating John Molina Jr. and then losing to soon to be superstar Terence Crawford.  Klimov has a busy jab and moves well in the ring.  He also carries with him an accurate straight right hand but that is about it.  Klimov will throw a left hook but he doesn't really commit to the punch so it doesn't have much on it.  While Klimov moves better than Pedraza does he isn't as busy as Pedraza and that punch output could be the difference in this fight.  Both fighters are pretty solid defensively so there is a good chance that this fight goes to the scorecards.  If it does go the distance it should be close throughout and it will be the higher volume of punches, and the more powerful punches of Pedraza that help him get the close unanimous decision victory.