Joshua vs Molina - mismatch

[SteveO]

Joshua is a champion, he should at least fight top 20 fighters.

Well Molina is ranked 12th in BoxRec rankings...

Also, Molina is 8th in the September IBF ratings and this is an IBF title fight.
Still awaiting their October ratings where he might be placed higher.

[Freedom]

Joshua is a champion, he should at least fight top 20 fighters.

Well Molina is ranked 12th in BoxRec rankings...

Also, Molina is 8th in the September IBF ratings and this is an IBF title fight.
Still awaiting their October ratings where he might be placed higher.

Doesn’t matter where Molina is ranked, he will never beat a Joshua or Wilder, or even Andy Ruiz Jr.

[Sagaroth]

Well Molina is ranked 12th in BoxRec rankings...

Also, Molina is 8th in the September IBF ratings and this is an IBF title fight.
Still awaiting their October ratings where he might be placed higher.

Doesn’t matter where Molina is ranked, he will never beat a Joshua or Wilder, or even Andy Ruiz Jr.

By the way, who can Molina beat now in top 10 IBF?

[Freedom]

I’d give him a good shot against Glaskov.

[Rob3_142]

I don't mean to point at the BoxRec rankings, it is genuinely hard to find a good objective ranking system in boxing as it is.

I think BoxRec is the closest thing we have as it takes into account who you've fought and how you won/lost. It however doesn't take into account your potential, or if there are extenuating circumstances (i.e. the Glazkov injury vs. Martin).

Molina's position in the rankings is largely inflated by the TKO win over Adamek, and Joshua's position is largely inflated because of his second round KO victory over Martin (who's position was already inflated because of the Glazkov win).

It's all swings and roundabouts, but who in the rankings 20-40 has a much better record than Molina?

[pound per pound]

Joke of a fight.

Not that I'm surprised with Joshua going after the easiest possible opponent. I can't wait for this cherry picking fraud to get exposed.

Oh, it will be better than that. His rabid fan base will start accusing those he isn't fighting of ducking him.

Joshua has already had a sparring show with Dominic Breazeale with his belt on the line, who if you want the truth was probably weaker than any of the 18-20 title fights Wlad was in and Wlad had some really easy matches.

So now Joshua is fighting a nonstop ten opponent against who has already been KO'd three times. I'm pretty sure Pulev, Parker, Haye, or A. Ruiz, or even Jennings would have taken this fight with Joshua and at least upgraded the event to something I'd like to see.

Either Joshua is hiding a glass jaw, or his manager thinks he can fill any UK based arenas with screaming fans regardless of who he fights. Could be a bit of both.

Either way, Heavyweight boxing is essentially dead. Wilder won't fight anyone, and now it appears Joshua won't either.

[crusader]

Molina's only win of note is a come from way behind stoppage of Adamek's corpse (incidentally, Szpilka comfortably beat a fresher Adamek and was more competitive with Wilder, yet is ranked lower by BoxRec). Even in today's division a lot of fighters can beat that, and if we go on ability I wouldn't have Molina top 20.

The IBF of course rank him top 15, but have you seen some of the fighters with high ABC rankings?

[Rob3_142]

Joke of a fight.

Not that I'm surprised with Joshua going after the easiest possible opponent. I can't wait for this cherry picking fraud to get exposed.

Oh, it will be better than that. His rabid fan base will start accusing those he isn't fighting of ducking him.

Joshua has already had a sparring show with Dominic Breazeale with his belt on the line, who if you want the truth was probably weaker than any of the 18-20 title fights Wlad was in and Wlad had some really easy matches.

So now Joshua is fighting a nonstop ten opponent against who has already been KO'd three times. I'm pretty sure Pulev, Parker, Haye, or A. Ruiz, or even Jennings would have taken this fight with Joshua and at least upgraded the event to something I'd like to see.

Either Joshua is hiding a glass jaw, or his manager thinks he can fill any UK based arenas with screaming fans regardless of who he fights. Could be a bit of both.

Either way, Heavyweight boxing is essentially dead. Wilder won't fight anyone, and now it appears Joshua won't either.

I know this a place to air their personal opinions etc. but you have to at least do a little bit of background to justify your position.

Pulev was offered no less than 4 times to take this fight, he declined. He has decided to defend his EBU title in January/February.

Parker, despite being the mandatory challanger for the IBF, has opted to fight Ruiz Jr for the WBO championship in NZ.

Andy Ruiz, see above.

Jennings was also offered the fight, but it was to close in time to the event, so he also declined. Also it was speculated that the IBF would not sanction the fight as he was coming off the back of two defeats (as well as not being in the IBF top 15).

Haye is the only person in the list which is looking for a fight on the same night, but this fight is more than just a filler. Haye as a last minute replacement on Dec 10? Come on, that would just be business suicide.

It's a shit opponent, still better than Breazeale and Martin, but shit none the less, and a massive step down from Parker and Klitchko which we were so much looking forward to. You have to accept that Fury relinquishing his belts in a timely fashion has messed everyone's plans up, and moved everyone's goal posts. You just need to get over it, and hope the Klitchko fight gets made in Spring (the WBA have now sanctioned it, Klitchko has a calf injury, and was short notice to build it up). I personally think it will happen, and if it doesn't, then perhaps maybe you can spit your dummy out.

[ValMar]

Honestly, Molina's place is between top 10 and top 20 HW. It is very difficult to say exactly.

[Badhusker]

I think from a manager or promoter's standpoint they are doing the right thing. Joshua is still a work in progress, with his fairly limited amateur career, and pro career with less than 20 fights. Its the fans that get too impatient. Molina may be gatekeeper status, but he comes to fight. Still should be an easy win for Joshua, but in my opinion any fights he has that are competitive benefit him in the long run.

Hopefully his next fight will be more of a challenge, and probably will if he fights Wlad.

[asdfjkl]

Molina would probably lose against Briggs for example.

[PredatorHayds]

Molina would probably lose against Briggs for example.

I'd pick Molina to beat Briggs.

[ValMar]

Molina would probably lose against Briggs for example.

I'd pick Molina to beat Briggs.

Young Briggs has been much better than recent Molina. Just now, it would be very questionable. Supposing Briggs has retained his power (10/10, at least 9/10), it would be 50/50 type of fight. I feel that Briggs would be much more dangerous opponent for Joshua (5 % chance to win) than Molina (0,001 % ).

[Lennox]

I don't mean to point at the BoxRec rankings, it is genuinely hard to find a good objective ranking system in boxing as it is.

I think BoxRec is the closest thing we have as it takes into account who you've fought and how you won/lost. It however doesn't take into account your potential, or if there are extenuating circumstances (i.e. the Glazkov injury vs. Martin).

Molina's position in the rankings is largely inflated by the TKO win over Adamek, and Joshua's position is largely inflated because of his second round KO victory over Martin (who's position was already inflated because of the Glazkov win).

It's all swings and roundabouts, but who in the rankings 20-40 has a much better record than Molina?

www.premierboxingorganisation.com/heavyweight-200

[the_doctor]

I don't mean to point at the BoxRec rankings, it is genuinely hard to find a good objective ranking system in boxing as it is.

I think BoxRec is the closest thing we have as it takes into account who you've fought and how you won/lost. It however doesn't take into account your potential, or if there are extenuating circumstances (i.e. the Glazkov injury vs. Martin).

Molina's position in the rankings is largely inflated by the TKO win over Adamek, and Joshua's position is largely inflated because of his second round KO victory over Martin (who's position was already inflated because of the Glazkov win).

It's all swings and roundabouts, but who in the rankings 20-40 has a much better record than Molina?

www.premierboxingorganisation.com/heavyweight-200

That makes some very interesting reading, cheers