Wilson Battles Tiring Foe!

This is an interesting situation involving one of our more popular Beltway Boxers.

A boxer faces many physical obstacles when preparing for a bout. Those obstacles may include: the opponent, physical injury and illness, among others.

A recent conversation I had with Silver Spring, MD cruiserweight Darnell “The Ding-A-Ling Man” Wilson adds another obstacle to the list: sleep deprivation.

Wilson said sleep deprivation was to blame for a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Vadim Tokarev in Kazan, Russia on August 18. Two of the judge’s scorecards for that evening said Tokarev pitched a shutout (100-90) while one scored a little closer (97-93).

In 2004, the National Sleep Foundation estimated that 40 million Americans suffer from some sort of sleep disorder. There are 90 diagnosed sleep disorders.

Wilson (18-2-3, 15 KO’s) explained that this condition may have been the cause behind some lackluster efforts he has had in his career.

“Sleep deprivation is a combination of a lot of things, including insomnia,” Wilson said. “It’s probably been a few of my fights where (people) have said, ‘what the hell is Darnell doing? He seems out of it, he doesn’t know what he’s doing or something’s wrong.’”

“I never have fear of a man, ever,” Wilson continued. “But when I went to Russia, it (the sleep deprivation) multiplied four times. The first two nights there, I slept really well. But the night before the weigh-in and the night before the fight, I stayed up the entire night. I was in a zone. I was in space. Both days, I went to sleep at 8 am for about an hour.”

“When I was in the ring, it was like I was almost sleeping,” Wilson added. I had no strength, no stamina. I was running 5-6 miles every day, doing hard road work and sprints, so I was in perfect shape. But the sleep deprivation killed it all. I talked to a neurologist and I couldn’t imagine that sleep deprivation would have that kind of effect on you. I was in tip-top shape but it took everything I had. I had no power and I was slower than Butterbean out there.”

“Tokarev is normally a brawler, but he decided to just stand there and throw his jab because I was standing right there, I couldn’t move,” Wilson added.

Wilson said he is hoping to travel to Germany to face highly-touted cruiserweight contender “Hurricane” Paul Briggs on October 15. When asked if he has a fear of his sleep deprivation condition returning, Wilson emphatically said no.

“No way,” Wilson said. “That’s because I’m fixing myself. I’m getting plenty of rest. I’m ready to go. Come on, Paul. Let’s go!”