By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight David Price was hoping to get a title shot against IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua for his next fight in December. Instead, Joshua surprised many boxing fans by opting to fight 34-year-old Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) instead on December 10 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Not long before Joshua made his decision to fight Molina next, news surfaced about an old sparring incident between Price and Joshua involving a knockdown of Joshua.
It was thought that Price only revealed the incident in an attempt to get a fight against Joshua. Joshua still chose to fight Molina #8 IBF next rather than Price (21-3, 18 KOs). A fight between Joshua and Price would have likely been the bigger fight due to Price being a more recognizable name in the UK than Molina, who is mostly known for his knockout losses to World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder last year and Chris Arreola in 2012.
“I looked at what was right for me and thought Molina was a tougher fight,” said Joshua to skysports.com about why he chose Molina over Price for his December 10 fight. “That’s all it came down to. I wasn’t judging this fight on how many Twitter followers I can gain from this or how many re-tweets I can get. I was looking at what is the best fight for my development, someone who has been in with better fighters and yes, Eric Molina is a better opponent for me.”
About the only thing that you can say that would put the 6’4” Molina above Price would be his punch resistance. Molina showed a good chin in taking a lot of punishment in losing to Deontay by a 9th round in June of 2015. Wilder knocked Molina down repeatedly in that fight before it was eventually halted in the 9th. However, what boxing fans seem to forget is that this was Wilder’s first fight coming off of a broken hand and surgery following his win over Bermane Stiverne in January 2015. If you watched the Wilder-Molina fight, you’ll have noticed that Wilder wasn’t throwing a lot of right hands in the fight like he’d done in the past.
When Wilder did use his right hand, he didn’t appear to be loading up with it. Wilder admitted afterwards that he didn’t want to put everything he had in his right hands due to him coming off an injury. When Wilder put a little more power into his right hands, he was dropping Molina. In Molina’s fight against Chris Arreola, he was knocked out in the 1st round. As such, I don’t think Molina’s chin is nearly as good as some boxing fans think it is. It’s more of a case of Molina fighting Wilder at the right time with him coming off a bad hand injury and unable to put all of his power into his right hand shots.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Molina’s punch resistance is no better than Price’s. In that case, Joshua would be getting an easier fight, because Molina doesn’t have Price’s size, reach or punching power. If Price hits Joshua just right with one of his right hands or left hooks, he could take him out. In the case of Molina, I think Joshua would be able to take his best shots and continue to fight.
Ultimately, the decision for Joshua to fight Molina rather than Price may have come down to confidence. Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn need an opponent that can give him rounds. With Price’s history of being knocked out by Tony Thompson twice and Erkan Teper, there would be the potential for him getting knocked out early by Joshua. That would upset a lot of paying British boxing fans that purchase the fight on Sky Box Office thinking it would be a competitive fight. Price never avenged his losses to Teper and Thompson, and should have at least tried to.