Darnell Wilson was a vicious left hooker and always dangerous to the last second of every round?
?Ohhhhhhhhhh, a left hook like you cannot believe?Oh my! Oh my, this fight is over!??ESPN?s Joe Tessitore
Emmanuel Nwodo was almost decapitated by Darnell ?The Ding-A-Ling Man? Wilson on June 29, 2007 in front of a TV audience and a screaming, howling Teddy Atlas in Staten Island. It was Wilson?s fourth stoppage win in a row over solid opposition. The KO prompted Dan Rafael to write, ?It was certainly one of the greatest knockouts in the history of ESPN2?s ?Friday Night Fights? and it was the easy pick as the 2007 ESPN.com Knockout of the Year.? See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdXXmJ9QIIU
Earlier, on February 23, 2007, Wilson stopped look-alike Kelvin Davis in a wild and entertaining shootout that also had Teddy frothing. Finally, Wilson seemed to be a force with which to be reckoned but something has happened along the way.
Maybe it occurred on February 8, 2008 when he lost a close UD to BJ Flores (then 20-0-1) in an IBF cruiserweight title eliminator, but he bounced back a month later with a quick, confidence building TKO over hapless Robert Marsh (11-44-3) and that brought his record to a deceptive 22-6-3, deceptive because of the substantial level of his opposition
Ding-A-Ling , a vicious left hooker and always dangerous to the last second of every round, then assumed the role of global road warrior as he continued to fight the very best opposition?often in their home country?whether it be Singapore, Turkey, Germany, Australia, or Russia. However, the problem was that he simply was too short, too slow, and eventually became too old as he began losing and soon became a high level gatekeeper.
After dispatching the aforementioned Marsh, Wilson went 2-13 losing to the likes of Firat Arslan (28-3-1), Grigory Drozd (31-1), Alex Lepai (20-3-3), Ondrej Pala (28-2), Denis Boytsov (29-0), Edmund Gerber (21-0), Juan Carlos Gomez (49-3) in an avenging defeat due to a cut, Vyacheslav Glazkov (18-0-1), and Mike Perez (20-1-1).
In 2011, Ding-A-Ling did manage a big upset win by MD over a lethargic Juan Carlos Gomes (49-2 at the time) and he did it in Hamburg, Germany no less, but then he lost five straight until his incredible battle against David ?Nino? Rodriguez (36-0) who was returning after having been stabbed.
Rodriguez vs. Wilson (December 14, 2013)
?The matchup reminded me a little bit of Bert Cooper?s 1997 KO of Richie Melito at Madison Square Garden.??Briggs Seekins
The 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound Mexican-American heavyweight Rodriquez had run up an impressive record (on paper) of 36-0 with 34 wins coming by way of KO, and many asked, ?Is this guy for real. Is he another Deontay Wilder?? But 24 of his stoppages came in the first round signaling that if anyone took him deep, might something unexpected happen? Moreover, his level of opposition read like a Who?s Not Who in Boxing. Said Pedro Fernandez in Ringtalk on January 7, 2013, ?LOOK AT THE NUMBERS, HIS FOES & TRY NOT TO PUKE!? Rodriguez was a popular regional attraction in the southwest United States and Mexico, but he hadn?t faced an opponent ranked inside the top 150. Still, he won the Texas heavyweight title, the New Mexico heavyweight title, and the WBC Fecarbox Latin title. Moreover, his KO of a shot Owen Beck left ?What the Heck? on the canvas for a scary 15 minutes.
The two faced off for an interesting six rounds of boxing in Atlantic City, but it turned out to be one of the most exciting fights probably no one ever witnessed. The far more seasoned Wilson exposed and upset Nino with a dramatic last second KO?yes, last second. The fight was reasonably close with Nino ahead until the popular, articulate, and affable Wilson cut Rodr?guez around the eye and then, aroused by the profusely flowing crimson, went after him with whistling left hooks of the haymaker variety?his signature punch. Nevertheless, it looked like the much bigger David would survive?just barely?forcing the fight to the cards and giving Nino the win, but Wilson swung a final nasty and scary left and it landed flush and fully leveraged sending Rodriguez down and out as referee Lindsey Page immediately waved off matters without a count at 2:59 of the sixth and final round. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_yvnF1xyyQ
Nino fell unconscious like he had been hit by a lead pipe. It was reminiscent of when Wilson almost decapitated Emmanuel Nwodo back in 2007 with one of the most devastating KOs ever seen on ESPN or anywhere else
Wilson is now 25-19-3 and is 40 years old; he has seen much better days with only three wins and a long line of defeats since 2008. If the Nwodo KO established him, the Rodriguez thriller probably will be his last hurrah.
