By Jake Donovan

The first heavyweight title fight to ever take place in Alabama ultimately proved to be a huge success, even if journeyman Eric Molina did everytything in his power to spoil the homecoming for Deontay Wilder.

A sold-out crowd of 9,347 at Bartow Arena in Birmingham—less than an hour from Wilder's hometown of Tuscaloosa—was ultimately given the ending it craved, as Wilder scored four knockdowns en route to a 9th round stoppage. Molina provided a brief scare along the way, when Wilder was buzzed a bit more than he let on afterward when Molina tagged him with a shot in round three.

Wilder (34-0, 33KOs) rode out the storm to eventually surge ahead and prevail. More so than the victory, the defending heavyweight titlist escaped unscathed. The five-month gap from his title-winning effort over Bermane Stiverne to Saturday's headliner was attributable to an injury, bending a metal rod in his surgically repaired right hand which requred a couple of months to properly heal.

With his first title defense out of the way, Wilder is ready to return to the ring as soon as possible. His next ring appearance is being targeted for September 26, likely another voluntary defense before formally entering negotiations with mandatory contender Alexander Povetkin later this year.

Should the date hold up, the event is all but guaranteed to not take place in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa or anywhere else in Wilder's home state. With the legendary Alabama Crimson Tide scheduled for home games on every Saturday in September, attempting to compete against college football in SEC (Southeastern Conference) country is a non-starter for any major boxing event.

However, the Deep South is not ruled out entirely, although his team is presently exploring all options.

"Other than it being my birthday..." quips Jay Deas, Wilder's longtime trainer and manager on wanting to return on that date. The true motivation is to keep Wilder active, rather than grow stale on the sidelines waiting for a big fight.

"When Stiverne was the mandatory and eventually the champ, he was only fighting once per year," points out Deas. "Vitali Klitschko before him, as often as he was injured he hardly ever fought.

"With Deontay, we want to change that. We want him in the ring every 3-4 months, building his brand, keeping his name in the public eye."

As for his next fight, there are plenty of options abound.

"We are looking at venues in the West Coast, or in Montreal, where Russ (Anbar, Wilder's cutman and also the premier hand wrapper in the game) is from," Deas notes. "We're also looking at Biloxi (Mississippi). They expressed interest.

"We mentioned that it's SEC football in this region; they reminded us, 'Hey it's not like the casinos are empty during football,' which is a good point.";

Possible opponents haven’t yet been discussed, nor has there been reason to believe a Povetkin fight would happen next. With World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko currently in negotiations for his own mandatory title defense versus Tyson Fury, it will come down to whichever heavyweight contender is reasonably available.

“People will say what they want on why we picked Molina,” Deas points out. “The thing I liked about him was that he didn’t make any ridiculous demands, and didn’t show any fear in coming over here to fight. We told Deontay, “This guy is coming to beat you,” and darn if he didn’t come out and try to do just that.

“For his next fight, it will be about whatever is the right deal, the best fit for his career. Whether it turns out to a Povetkin fight or any other top heavyweight contender, it doesn’t matter. We just want to be back in there by the end of September, and then if we can by the end of the year.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox