Joshua vs. Molina

By Scott Gilfoid: 34-year-old Eric Molina (25-4, 19 KOs) says a combination of inadequate preparation and jetlag were the reasons for his 3rd round knockout loss to IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) last Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Molina was given only 39 days to prepare for the fight against the 27-year-old Joshua and five of those days were spent flying. It wasn’t enough time for him to prepare properly for the fight. That might explain why the 6’4” Molina didn’t throw a heck of a lot of punches in the fight before he was banged out in round 3 after getting dropped.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) made easy work of #8 IBF challenger Eric Molina (25-4, 19 KOs) in stopping the reluctant fighter in the 3rd round on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua weighed in on Friday at 249 pounds for his title defense on Saturday night against American Eric Molina at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Molina weighed in at 237 ½ pounds, which is more or less in the same ballpark that he usually weighs in.

Joshua’s weight was within one-half pound of his career high of 249 ½ pounds that he weighed in for his fight against Gary Cornish in September 2015. If you remember that fight, Joshua bum rushed the 6’7” Cornish in the 1st round and blasted him out immediately.

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By Scott Gilfoid: In a bad sign for the fans that will be purchasing the fight between IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Eric Molina on Sky Box Office PPV, Joshua is talking about the potential of him toying with the 34-year-old Molina before feeding him to the lions. In other words, Joshua will carry the 6’4” Molina (25-3, 19 Kos) if he’s no threat to him before putting him out of his misery in their fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

It’s sad though, because why is Joshua fighting an easy mark on pay-per-view. This is not a good career-building move for Joshua to be fighting a guy who has little chance of beating him on PPV.

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By Scott Gilfoid: American Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) says he’ll be ready to take full advantage of any mistakes IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) makes this Saturday night. Molina, 6’4”, says Joshua will be in trouble if he messes up inside the ring. Joshua tends to leave himself open quite a bit when he’s attacking his opponents unfortunately.

All it takes is one mistake by Joshua and he could be out on his feet from one of Molina’s hard power shots. Molina realizes what’s at stake in this fight. If he can score a knockout over Joshua, he’ll make a bundle of cash in the rematch.

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua figures he’s got maybe five more years left in his boxing career before he hangs up his gloves and retires from the sport. That’s if everything goes as planned with his career. Joshua needs to keep his eye on the task at hand for this Saturday, because he’s facing a real big puncher in Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

It wouldn’t be surprising at all of Joshua gets knocked out in that fight, because Molina is going to be fighting above his head knowing that if he beats AJ, he’ll get a huge money rematch. Molina will be set for life if he beats Joshua. The cash that Molina will get for the rematch will be out of this world good.

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By Scott Gilfoid: #8 IBF contender Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) realizes that his only chance of beating IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) this Saturday night is if he knocks him when the two fighters face each other at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Molina, 6’4”, will be the visiting fighter walking into the lion’s den in this fight. That means there will be very few Molina fans when he gets inside the ring with the 27-year-old Joshua.

There will be a lot of cheering when Joshua lands his shots and likely next to no applause for Molina when he does anything good in the fight. You can argue that judges tend to pick up their cues in who to score the fight for based on the cheering of the crowd, Joshua would seem to be in a very good position to win this fight on Saturday night if it goes to the scorecards, which is why Molina doesn’t plan on letting the fight go the distance.

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