Daily Mail News: Eric Molina in talks for a fight with Anthony Joshua on Dec 10!

From what I recall Hearn said Pulev simply wanted too much money to risk going up against Joshua, so he basically priced himself out of the fight. I think Hearn said Pulev wanted to earn a mandatory shot the following year so he could get a bigger purse split.

I agree about Ortiz. While I personally dislike the idea of giving a fighter who failed a doping test a free shot at the title, in regards to Joshua's career he needs to face a better level of opponent and he has one available in Ortiz. But Ortiz of course is too much risk for too little reward. I'm sure if they could generate big money like the Wlad fight would have, for Joshua/Ortiz they would take the risk but for such a small pay off I suspect Hearn doesn't want to take that risk when he could still milk Joshua for a whole lot more in the meantime.

 

Didn't know pulev turned it down tbh. Last I heard they were negotiating .

Yeah he is a big risk and in many ways is far more proven than Joshua atm . Had he got the shot against Martin he'd have been the champion.

 

Man... what a s**t fight. Sure, it's short notice... but it's still a disappointment.

Expecting a KO within 3 rounds. Terrible mismatch.

Not thrilled at all with this one.

 

Agreed.

 

Oh my God! Considering the loads and loads of sh#t Wilder has taken from you guys for the past year for fighting Molina ... and now Joshua is fighting him and it's "okay" on short notice?

I've got a crazy idea who he could fight that night!!!

How about the guy fighting RIGHT BEFORE HIM on that card ... Luis Ortiz?

I think he's a MUCH BETTER opponent, considering Joshua was looking for a tough opponent. And the fact that it would be easy to make considering they work for the same guy. And considering Ortiz is going to be IN THE RING right before Joshua comes out.

Sorry, I have to call BULLSH#T on this. Don't trot out names like Wlad Klitschko ... and then fight Eric Molina ... when Luis Ortiz is going to be in shape and in the very same ring the very same night.

 

yep

its absolute s---

hearn has ortiz too

he can make that fight right now

 

Well ... let's see ... there's a much better heavyweight fighting on the undercard who is world class in Luis Ortiz.

I seem to recall Lennox Lewis signing to fight Kirk Johnson and Vitali Klitschko signing to fight Cedric Boswell on the undercard. And when Johnson dropped out, Lewis and Vitali agreed to fight on like two weeks notice. Even though Vitali was much better than Johnson.

Joshua and his promoter can't cry that there's no one available when his promoter has one of the best heavyweights in the world fighting on the same card against TBA.

 

How can he fight Ortiz when he's already signed to fight Malik Scott? Not Joshuas fault Wlad wanted nothing to do with him.

 

How is Ortiz fighting on the undercard when Joshua can't fight him?

 

Stay off the drugs dick rider.

 

Sorry man I don't understand what you mean here, could you rephrase?

 

Ortiz is scheduled to fight Scott but he's also scheduled for Joshua undercard too. Why not put them in with each other instead of dragging up two fringe contenders?

 

Gotcha. Apologies, I thought Ortiz was fighting Scott on the Joshua undercard.

 

I agree with everything you said, Dubblechin. It's kinda crazy how everything was "all in" on Wlad being the opponent, only to end up with... Molina... as a replacement once the smoke cleared. We couldn't script a worse outcome than this based on the current rankings if we tried.

However, I also think there's a reason why Luis Ortiz won't be the December opponent. Ortiz isn't ranked in the IBF top 15, but he's right on the verge of fighting for a WBA strap. What (I believe) Hearn is going to do is try to build up an "in-house" unification fight between Ortiz and AJ, which could definitely take place next year... if (or after) Ortiz captures the WBA title.

 

Ortiz is on the undercard of the Joshua fight. It's been posted. He's facing TBA. They expect him to knock out Scott in seconds.