Joshua V Molina IBF World Heavyweight Title
Matchroom Boxing Promotions
10th December 2016
MEN Arena
Manchester, England
TV UK – Sky Sports PPV
US – Showtime (Only Main Event)
Anthony Joshua ‘AJ’ 17 (17 KO’s)-0-0 V Eric Molina ‘Drummer Boy’ 25 (19 KO’s)-3-0
IBF World Heavyweight Title Fight
Anthony Joshua last stepped into the ring on the 25th June 2016, he had a comfortable enough win that night over Dominic Breazeale and it felt like he could have stopped the fight earlier than the seventh round if he really wanted to, at times it felt like it was almost like an exercise in round discipline for his first defence. The Champs meteoric rise continues as he steps out for the second defence of the IBF Heavyweight Title he won by beating Charles Martin in April of this year. Lots of people appear to question the level of opponent AJ has been facing but he can only beat who is put out in front of him, and the previous four fighters he has faced all came into the ring without tasting defeat but that changed the night they faced AJ. AJ is on a path to career defining fights and if he gets past Erica Molina, 2017 could be a monumental year but not just for AJ, it will be for anyone who is a fan or follows boxing as there could be potential fights with the following fighters Joseph Parker, Deontay Wilder, David Haye, Wladimir Klitschko, Luis Ortiz, Lucas Browne, or Alexander Povetkin.
Eric Molina is currently ranked 8th with the IBF and he comes into this fight off the back of two wins but this is only his second fight of the year. Molina has the power to hurt any champion as shown in his last title fight when he faced off against Deontay Wilder for the WBC Heavyweight Title. In that fight he rocked Wilder in the third round, and fought five rounds with a busted ankle. Molina certainly believes in his own ability and never quit attitude, he introduced everyone to his new slogan on the back of his t-shirt at the first press conference. Only time will tell if there is any truth with ‘The Art Of Bouncing Back’ statement or as it might just show them to be only words, as the Drummer Boy aims to be the third person to take AJ past the hallway mark of a fight if he doesn’t go for the early knockout, as there has been questionmarks over AJ’s chin.
Dillian Whyte ‘The Bodysnatcher’ 19 (15 KO’s)-1-0 V Derek Chisora ‘Del Boy’ 26 (18 KO’s)-6-0
British Heavyweight Title Fight + WBA World Title Eliminator Fight
This battle of Britain sees a grudge match where the press conference or the SKY ‘gloves are off’ episode could be better than the slugfest taking place on the 10th December. Dillian Whyte seems to fall out and abuse any fighter he comes in contact with from his division, but there is added needle as his last fight was against Ian Lewison who just happens to be the stablemate of Derek Chisora and words were exchange between Chisora and Whyte on the lead up to that fight. Whyte oozes confidence and he truly believes he can beat any fighter out there and he refuses to acknowledge his only defeat to the hands of Anthony Joshua. Chisora is a good opponent for Whyte to show the world he is heading in the right direction and with a win here he can get a shot in 2017 at the WBA title by most likely facing the winner of their next staged fight for the Vacant belt, this WBA Belt has been through into chaos when Lucas Browne failed a random drug test. He was meant to be fighting Shannon Briggs for the Regular title with the winner facing the winner of Whyte V Chisora. Derek Chisora has had a rough time of late as people feel he is near the end of his career as his last few performances haven’t been up to his normal standard. He now has a great opportunity to silence his critics and the bodysnatcher with a solid performance on the 10th December. Some people feel this fight could be the fight of the night with the two explosive fighters but it could be a slow, start stop fight but I hope I am wrong and only time will tell. If Del Boy is to win this fight he will get his hands on the British Heavyweight title for the second time in his career and he will fight for a world title for the fourth time. He previously only won a title the once from the three attempts.
Katie Taylor 1 (1 KO)-0-0 V Viviane Obenauf 9 (4 KO’s)-1-0
Women’s Super-Featherweight Fight
The highly popular Irish fighter Katie Taylor, makes her second outing as a professional when she steps out against Viviane Obenauf, Taylor is coming to the pro game quite late on as she is now 30 years old but she has a strong amateur career behind her, it all started for her in 1997 aged 11 years old and from that she went on to represent Ireland at two Olympics games winning one gold medal. Taylor also finished 1st (Gold Medal) in six European Amateur Championships and 1st (Gold Medal) in five World Amateur Championships. “I was always going to turn pro, it was just a case of doing it at the right time,” said Taylor. “I’ve been in the amateur game for so long and in the last year or so things have changed and I felt that this was the right time to do it, so I’ve reassessed my goals, I want to become a professional World champion and I’m excited about starting that quest.”
Taylor showed she has star quality and it didn’t take long for Eddie Hearn to see this as well, Hearn moved quickly to sign Taylor to Matchroom Promotions once she contacted him to say that she was thinking about turning professional. The UK and Ireland has a real lack of Women Professional fighters in the sport and with this move I am hoping more women make the move from the amateurs. If Women’s boxing is to become more mainstream, it has to go down the same route the UFC has taken and they need to add more fights to Men’s cards.
Taylor was unbeaten in the Amateurs for 11 years which is an incredible achievement in its own right, and I am sure she is hoping she can make big waves when she gets going in the pros.
Viviane Obenauf comes into this fight after beating the same opponent as Katie Taylor in her last fight, the Brazilian finished her fight with Kopinska in the same round as Taylor but the difference is she has a winning record and she will be a tougher test for Taylor. Obenauf now fights out of Birsfelden, Switzerland, so she doesn’t have to far to travel for this fight. She currently has four knockouts from ten fights and nine victories and her only loss came against Featherweight World Champion Vissia Trovato, but she did manage to take the champion to a decision after 6 rounds.
This will definitely be a step up in opponent for Taylor and a good barometer of where she lies in the division. Other fighters appearing on the card are as follows:
Luis Ortiz ‘King Kong’ 26 (22 KO’s)-0-0 V Dave Allen ‘White Rhino’ 9 (6 KO’s)-1-1
Heavyweight Fight
Callum Smith ‘Mundo’ 21 (16 KO’s)-0-0 V Luke Blackledge ‘Robbo’ 22 (7 KO’s)-2-2
British Super-Middleweight Title Fight
Scott Quigg 31 (23 KO’s)-1-2 V Jose Cayetano 20 (9 KO’s)-4-0
WBA International Featherweight Title
Luis Concepcion ‘El Nica’ 35 (24 KO’s)-4-0 V Khalid Yafai ‘Kal’ 20 (14 KO’s)-0-0
WBA Super Fly-weight World Championship
Hosea Burton ‘The Hammer’ 18 (9 KO’s)-0-0 V Frank Buglioni ‘Wise Guy’ 18 (14 KO’s)-2-1
British Light-Heavyweight Championship