Of course hardly any fighter you see on television is a bum. Just that they made it to TV usually means they have something. Mollo is in no way a bum in a literal sense. However, there is a strong habit of people calling fighters below top 20-30 or even below top 10 bums. It is usually born out of outrage when world champions or top contenders fight them. If Wladimir Klitschko was fighting Mollo, we might well be screaming: "why is Wlad fighting a BUM?" It´s because we are thinking of the world champions like the norm then comparing fighters like Mollo with them. If somebody was as far below me in my field as Mollo is below Wlad in his - I also would look at him like he was a kind of a "bum."
He certainly needs to improve before stepping up, again. His best win is McBride, and then he hit a brick wall when he stepped up to Golota. THUD! But I like his fast and hard attack style, even though it don't seem to work on the better fighters, such as Golota. But it does work well on the lower tier opponents. LOL Personally, I don't think he's got what it takes to ever be a world class heavy. He's probably about as highly ranked as he's ever gonna get.
To be honest I can't remember where I read it or if it was told to me by one of my friends in the fight game.