Anthony Joshua vs. Éric Molina, was a professional boxing match contested on 10 December 2016, for the IBF heavyweight championship. The bout took place at the Manchester Arena, with Joshua winning by technical knockout in the third round.
Background Following Joshua's win over Dominic Breazeale on 25 June, a seventh-round technical knockout (TKO) to retain his IBF heavyweight title, the IBF ordered Joshua to fight undefeated mandatory challenger, Joseph Parker, by 9 January 2017. Following unified heavyweight champion Tyson Fury's withdrawal from a scheduled rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, Hearn revealed on Twitter in late September that he had contacted team Klitschko for a potential fight. On 16 October it was reported that a deal with Klitschko was almost finalised, with the WBA and WBO titles potentially being on the line after Fury vacated the titles days earlier. A week later, it was reported that Klitschko had sustained an injury in training, scuttling plans of a potential fight. After Joseph Parker had agreed to fight Andy Ruiz Jr for the vacant WBO title, relinquishing his IBF mandatory position, the three names in the mix for Joshua's opponent were Éric Molina, David Price and Bryant Jennings. In November, it was officially announced that Joshua would make the second defence of his title against the IBF's number 7 ranked contender and former world title challenger, Éric Molina, with the fight to be televised live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and Showtime in the US, on 10 December at the Manchester Arena.
Fight details The opener saw little action, with the highlight being a left hook from Joshua in the final seconds of a round which the champion comfortably won on the scorecards. The second round saw much of the same; Molina cautiously backing up as Joshua stalked the American around the ring, with the highlight again coming from the champion–a left uppercut that momentarily stunned Molina. Joshua began the third round with more intensity, throwing combination punches as Molina continued to remain on the back foot. At the halfway point, Joshua landed a powerful straight right hand to drop Molina to the canvas. The challenger beat the referee's count of ten, only for Joshua to pounce on the American with a flurry of punches culminating in a left hook to force the referee to call a halt to the fight.
Aftermath Following Joshua's win, promoter Eddie Hearn brought Wladimir Klitschko into the ring to announce Klitschko as Joshua's next opponent, with the fight scheduled for 29 April 2017 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Fight card Confirmed bouts: Weight Classvs.MethodRoundTimeNotesHeavyweightAnthony Joshua (c)def.Éric Molina3/12HeavyweightDillian Whyte (c)def.Derek Chisora12LightweightKatie Taylordef.Viviane Obenauf6FeatherweightScott Quiggdef.Jose CayetanoTKO9/12Super-flyweightKhalid Yafaidef.Luis Concepción12Super-middleweightCallum Smith (c)def.Luke BlackledgeTKO10/12Light-heavyweightFrank Buglionidef.Hosea Burton (c)TKO12/12HeavyweightLuis Ortizdef.David AllenTKO7/8WelterweightConor Benndef.Steven BlackhouseTKO1/4Preliminary boutsMiddleweightMarcus Morrisondef.Harry MatthewsPTS6
Broadcasting Country Broadcaster United Kingdom Sky Sports Box Office United States Showtime
References