By Scott Gilfoid: #11 WBC heavyweight contender Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) is interested in facing either David Price (20-3, 17 KOs) or David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) in November in order to get a title shot against International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Prices trainer Dave Coldwell said recently that he was interested in matching the 33-year-old Price against Molina in November. Whether he was serious or not is the important question. Molina, 34, is a real talent with excellent punching power and good size. For Price to go from beating the likes Vaclav Pejsar in his last match to facing Molina in November would be a monstrous leap up in competition for the struggling heavyweight.
“David Coldwell has come out publicly and said he is interested in a fight with me and Price for some time in November on the Joshua undercard. I think the fight makes for a great exciting slugfest,” said Molina to skysports.com.
Gosh, I hope the 6’4” Molina doesn’t get his hopes up too much for the Price fight, because I don’t see that fight happening in this lifetime. Molina hits too hard, and Price’s chin is shown vulnerability during the last three years of his career. It was only last year that Erkan Teper plastered the 6’8” Price over the ring in a 2nd round knockout in July 2015. The last time I checked, Price never avenged the loss to Teper, and I wouldn’t suggest that he try. Teper, 34, is a puncher and so is Eric Molina.
Those guys are the last thing that Price needs right now if he wants to keep in the heavyweight title picture for a shot against Joshua. In a side note, Teper looked pretty sensational in his last fight in July against Derric Rossy in beating him by a 10 round decision. The 6’5” Teper showed off some nifty boxing skills for a big man weighing 257lbs. Teper moved around the ring like a light heavyweight, showing very fast hands like a bigger version of the late Corrie Sanders. The year out of the ring didn’t do anything to slow Temper’s impressive hand speed. The only difference I could see in Teper was his physique. He looked kind of flabby against Rossy.
“These are the types of fights the division needs. I’m tired of some of these contenders out there calling out Joshua, Fury and Wilder. If you aren’t a mandatory, earn your ticket. I’m not calling anybody’s name out,” said Molina. “If Price isn’t serious bring me Haye! Haye needs to step up also.”
Nah, I don’t see Haye wanting any part of Molina, even though he’s technically a fringe contender like Haye’s last two opponents Mark De Mori and Arnold Gjergjaj were. That alone should at least put Molina in the running for a shot against the 35-year-old Haye, but I still don’t see him getting that fight. Molina is too big, too strong, and too talented for him to get a fight against Haye in my estimation.
Haye has been dining on little known fringe contenders with marginal boxing skills and rankings that make no sense at all when you look at how horrible they looked. Haye has a good eye for scouting out his opponents in my estimation, and I don’t think for a second that he would ever agree to fighting someone like Molina. He’s too good.
“If Price isn’t serious, bring me Haye! Haye needs to step up also. The heavyweight division in the USA is currently stagnant. I am ‘passport ready’ to face the best around the world,” said Molina.
Price probably isn’t going to take a fight against Molina unless he has a good idea that it will lead him to a world title shot against Joshua either straightaway or in 2017. I would expect Price’s promoters at Sauerland Events to speak to Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn before they pull the trigger on a fight against a dangerous puncher like Molina to see if a victory over him would satisfy him enough to let him have a crack at Joshua.
Personally speaking, I don’t think it would be. It’s not that I don’t see Molina as a good heavyweight, but the fact of the matter is that he was recently whipped by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder just last year in June of 2015 in losing by a 10th round knockout.
That loss wasn’t that long ago. And while Molina did recently beat a past his best 40-year-old Tomasz Adamek by a 10th round knockout last April, it still wasn’t an impressive enough victory for you to see him as having redeemed himself after his title fight loss. I think Price needs to fight someone better than Molina like Joseph Parker and prove that he can beat him if he wants a world title shot against Joshua.
Price’s losses to Teper and Tony Thompson have put him in a situation where it would make Joshua look like a cherry picker to the extreme if he were to fight Price right now. I don’t see Price as being where Audley Harrison was at in the last part of his career in terms of vulnerability, but I think he’s very, very close to that level.
Price looks slow, very hittable, and fragile when taking shots. I think it would be a disaster for Hearn if he were to make the Joshua-Price fight, because if it ends in the 1st round with Joshua destroying him, I think Hearn would be the guy that would be dumped on for making the fight. The paying British boxing fans would likely be none too pleased at having paid their hard-earned money to see a mismatch that didn’t even make it to the 2nd round. For that reason, I think Joshua would carry Price for a while before he knocked him out, but still, I think it would be a dreadful fight to watch. That’s why I see Hearn insisting that Price prove himself against someone REALLY good like Joseph Parker.
It’s one of those fights where if Price can win, he would have the keys to the kingdom for a big money title shot against Joshua. But if he loses, then it would likely forever end Price’s hopes of getting a fight against him. Why would Joshua waste time fighting a guy that keeps getting knocked out left and right when he’s got better options for fights against the likes of Kubrat Pulev or Bermane Stiverne?