Anthony Joshua is now set to fight Eric Molina on December 10 and David Price, one of the men that was being considered as Joshua's opponent, thinks that the IBF champion took the easy road.
Price spoke to ESPN shortly after the official announcement was made and said that Molina is a safer choice for Joshua to face. Price also said that he would have brought a more exciting fight to Joshua if he was picked as his opponent.
"They've taken the safer option without a doubt," Price said. "I always thought that Joshua's team - not Joshua himself - think that Molina is a safer bet. It's less likely that something will go wrong. My selling point is the excitement I would bring. But Joshua's people began to realize there's a serious chance of him getting knocked out if he fought me. I thought I was going to get it at one point but, the longer it's gone on, the less likely it has become that I would get it. There's not going to be many champions picking me out as a voluntary defense and I think it's boiled down to his trainer [Tony Sims], and I can't blame him. Molina was the safer option."
In terms of picking a winner for this upcoming heavyweight title, Price sees an easy win for the young champion.
"But the thing with Eric Molina is that I don't think he's going to come to win at all and that's the difference - I would have come to win," Price said. "Molina has fought for a world title and even in his best win against Tomasz Adamek he was very defensive, and almost journeyman like. He doesn't take many chances. If he sits on the ropes this fight will be over in a couple of rounds. If he fiddles about for a bit, it might go five rounds."
Joshua was originally set to face Wladimir Klitschko, but Klitschko did get injured and was out of the fight. Molina was just one of several boxers, including Price, to be in consideration as the backup opponent. Price is coming off a very easy TKO win against Ivica Perkovic in October.
