Boxing on TV tonight: Anthony Joshua vs Eric Molina, Dillian Whyte vs Dereck Chisora
Four heavy-hitters go head-to-head, and a grudge match is finally settled
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It’s a tale of two heavyweight fights in Manchester tonight, as Sky Sports present their last PPV of the year.
Perfectly summing up the archaic vision of boxing at the moment, the most talked about and competitive bout of the weekend is a heavyweight showdown, casually slipped onto the undercard of Anthony Joshua who is defending his meaningless world title against another overmatched opponent.
Make no mistake, the real main event of this weekend is Dereck Chisora vs Dillian Whyte, who have both played their part in establishing a rivalry that WWE would be proud of.
Is it real or fake? It almost doesn’t matter. Tables have been thrown, animosity has spewed and chaos ensued.
We’ve had vile words shared between two of the biggest personalities in British boxing, and even a two-year suspended sentence for Chisora after he messed with the furniture during a pre-fight press conference.
All of this hype has drawn attention away from Joshua who will be in the headlining bout against heavyweight gatekeeper Eric Molina.
The Joshua story is well-known. An Olympic gold medallist and 17-0 as a professional with 17 straight knockouts, Joshua won his world title in April after beating the hapless Charles Martin and followed that up with another victory over the tougher but limited Dominic Breazeale.
Joshua is a mainstream star who has broken out of just being a known name in boxing. Your parents know who Joshua is, teenagers watch his training videos with awe and his easy-going demeanour belies a ferocious fighter in the ring.
All of this is why it’s so disappointing that he’s closing out the year fighting Eric Molina. Okay, the mooted Wladimir Klitschko fight fell through due to an injury to the former Ukrainian champion, but why is he not fighting Joseph Parker tonight, who won another version of the world title this morning in New Zealand?
Significant, career-defining bouts at heavyweight are few and far between at the moment because the star power isn’t there. The biggest name in the division, Tyson Fury, is effectively retired, while Deontay Wilder seems less and less interested in big fights by the day.
David Haye is fighting a blown-up light heavyweight in March, while Hughie Fury has become more talk, less action. Every average fight Joshua has against the likes of Molina limits his opportunity to truly test himself against significant talent.
Yes he’ll make money, yes he’ll appear on magazine covers, but Joshua is a fighting man with explosive power and a mean streak in the ring which makes him a contender against any man on the planet with two hands.
He deserves better than this, but it will be interesting to see if any adjustments are made to his style tonight as this is the first fight where he will be officially cornered by Robert McCracken, who has been helping Joshua behind the scenes over the past few years.
Joshua is 1/25 to win the fight according to the bookmakers, while Molina is a 12/1 underdog.
Considering the hype for Chisora/Whyte, casual fans may be surprised at how the actual fight will go. Those expecting fireworks could be disappointed, as neither man possesses devastating knockout power, although Whyte carries the harder punch.
With one working shoulder, Whyte hurt Joshua in their December 2015 bout and took the world champion into the seventh round.
Now fully fit, Whyte has yet to sparkle in recent bouts, with laboured wins over David Allen and Ian Lewison hardly setting the world alight.
He’s a thoughtful boxer still trying to identify a significant style, while we know what we’re getting with Chisora. If he’s motivated he’ll be a bundle of physical energy for all 12 rounds, constantly harassing and fighting in-close.
If he wilts like he did twice against Tyson Fury, he’ll become a sitting duck for Whyte and could be stopped towards the end of the bout.
Whyte is a surprisingly big 2/5 favourite with the bookmakers, with Chisora an 11/4 underdog.
An excellent undercard in Manchester continues with 20-0 Khalid Yafai fighting for the vacant WBA super flyweight title.
Yafai’s opponent Luis Concepcion missed weight which means the title can only be won by the British fighter.
The British light heavyweight title will also be on the line when the undefeated Hosea Burton defends his belt against the exciting Frank Buglioni.
Callum Smith will also be hoping to hold onto his British middleweight belt when he fights Luke Blackledge, while Smith’s stablemate Scott Quigg returns to the ring tonight for the first time since losing to Carl Frampton.
Elsewhere, Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz meets David Allen in a complete mismatch, Katie Taylor competes in her second professional fight, and Conor Benn looks for his sixth victory in a row.
Later on tonight, Terence Crawford defends his world title on BoxNation against the rugged and tough John Molina Jr.
Crawford’s WBC and WBO light welterweight titles will be on the line against Molina, and the former will be looking to close his year out in style ahead of a significant 2017.
It has been a quiet year for the king of the light welterweight division, but he will be hoping to make a statement against Molina and a seal a big fight next year against the likes of Manny Pacquiao or Adrien Broner.
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