I do not follow NASCAR much, although it is not the worst thing in the world to watch on a Saturday afternoon when you’re trying to make an impression on your new girlfriend’s family, who are obsessed with racing, as you enjoy BBQ and beers and try not to sound stupid as you pretend to understand the sport.
There is apparently something called the victory lap in NASCAR. I did some research on it and it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was, so I will instead explain it as I believe it should be.
Once you win a race, you’re allowed a lap around the course. It is a metaphorical lap in reality, but it is also nostalgic in many ways. For the first time, you get to enjoy just driving. There is no strategy, no competitive drive (pardon the pun), and you’re able to soak in the ride more in this one lap than you could in the entire race.
This is the exact position Deontay Wilder finds himself in with his showcase fight against Eric Molina on ShowTime Championship Boxing today.
Wilder won his WBC heavyweight title in January after defeating Bermane Stiverne by 12 round unanimous decision. And he didn’t just win, he completely shattered all of the negative assumptions about his ability to box through 12 rounds. He even took enough flush punches to at least give some indications that his chin can stand the hard hitting test.
Now, Wilder will get a soft touch opponent in a hometown showcase as his first title defense. This is his victory lap, and he deserves it.
Of course, there are many fans that believe Wilder is simply reverting back to his old ways. The knock on Wilder was his record that consisted of mostly tomato cans, with the exception of a couple guys with half a pulse. Fans feel like Wilder should only be rising to the occasion as a newly crowned champion and move forward from fight to fight.
Still, Wilder is at least staying active, which is more than we can say for a majority of the commercially known heavyweights.
Wilder’s first hometown fight was in Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and he hasn’t competed in Alabama in 9 fights. It is fair to say that this fight is for him, but at the same time he’s giving back to his hometown by delivering a heavyweight title fight in a location that rarely gets fights of any notoriety. Bringing the title back home was always the plan, but he wanted to show more than just a green belt at some event.
“It’s been in the making for a long time. I had my first fight at a place called Sheldon State when I wasn’t a champion, now that I’m a champion we furthermore moving to bigger arenas and doing bigger and better things. I’ll be the first to have a title fight in my division here in my own state,” Wilder told Thaboxingvoice.
For all of the hate that this fight is receiving, Wilder was quick to remind everyone that prize fighting is a two-way street and he needed someone else to step up. Molina might not be the fans choice, but if it wasn’t him then he may not be fighting today anyway.
“Eric was one of the guys out of a few. Sometimes guys can talk their way out of fights, they can price their way out of fight or their team or management can make a fight not happen. It’s either two things, you looking for the opportunity or the money, you can’t get both. I don’t know how Eric came about, I guess he agreed to everything and here it is. We got a plan for what we want to do. I want to be an active champion and I tell people I want to be in the ring as much as possible.”
This fight is for the casual fan that will appreciate an early Molina exit. This fight is for the kind of fan that just wants to see vicious knockouts without analyzing the opponent on a deeper stratosphere, or any kind of stratosphere, really.
But that doesn’t mean Wilder isn’t willing to throw away the rest of his 2015 campaign on some highlight reel package for YouTube. In fact, Wilder is due to face his mandatory following Molina. That means he will have to face Alexander Povetkin at some point in the near future. And, if you believe Wilder, it will come soon enough as the former Olympian medalist plans on fighting another 2-3 fights this year.
“If fans not getting what they want to see out of Molina, wait until the next one. I’m about to have a mandatory [with] Povetkin, he could be next.”
