Joshua vs Molina: The Panel want to see new skills from Anthony Joshua
Saturday 10 December 2016 11:04, UK
Anthony Joshua can punch, fight and box - but what does he still need to prove? The Panel debate what's yet to come...
Tony Bellew
I've seen him rocked and hurt by Dillian Whyte, and seen that he's got the bottle to come back from that. But the one thing I haven't seen him face is a boxer, someone who will cause him problems.
No-one has given him a puzzle to sort out and we haven't had to see him have to adapt a style.
No-one has given him a puzzle to sort out and we haven't had to see him have to adapt a style, with someone who is tricky. And the only person we are going to see him do that against is Wladimir Klitschko.
Dave Coldwell
I've always been interested to see what he'll be like when he's backed up, when somebody puts pressure on, gets close to his chest, and forces him back onto the ropes. I'd like to see how he copes with that pressure.
He's the man that everybody is intimidated by, and everybody reacts to him. I want to see what happens when he's put under the cosh and he has to deal with pressure. We'll see how his defence is when he's forced to go backwards.
David Haye
I don't believe we are going to see anything new. Hopefully we see more of the same in terms of patience, punch variety and punch evasion. I think these are the things he needs to work on, if he's to have a long, successful reign in the heavyweight division, fighting live opponents.
Patience, punch variety and punch evasion. I think these are the things he needs to work on.
Matt Macklin
He's shown us everything he can and ticked every box so far because he's been so much better than the opposition, but I guess we haven't seen him in the trenches.
I think we'd all like to see him in a real competitive, tough fight where he is losing rounds to see how he comes back from that.
We didn't expect him to do that with any of the previous 17 and we don't expect it to happen against Molina, either. He got buzzed by Dillian Whyte but I think we'd all like to see him in a real competitive, tough fight where he is losing rounds to see how he comes back from that.
Paul Smith
We haven't seen him down and hurt, then give it back. We've seen Tyson Fury hit the floor a couple of times then get up to fight. We've seen Tony Bellew hit the floor. We've seen David Haye hit the floor then get back up.
We haven't seen Joshua be knocked down, or cut, or be up against it in a fight. He's relatively new into his career even though he's the world champion but he's got a lot to learn, and he'll admit that himself. He's still a work in progress.
Sometimes you'll see fighters who are great when it's going their way but, when it isn't, they fold. I'm not saying Joshua is one of those. I don't think he will be, I think he's got lots of heart. He's game, and that will come across in the ring. When it's not going your way, that's when questions are asked.
Jamie Moore
What we've seen over the last four or five fights is more spite. He's always been a nice, laid-back character but we've seen menace in him.
Maybe he'll go about his job in a different way, because I think Molina wants to fiddle his way through and survive the first few rounds.
Maybe he'll go about his job in a different way, because I think Molina wants to fiddle his way through and survive the first few rounds. It will always be difficult for Joshua to try new things when his opponents all do the same thing - they try to drag him into the later rounds.
Joshua has just got to do what he's good at doing - walk him down, break him down, catch him with good shots. I don't think we'll see a different side of him until an opponent is capable of pushing him back, and boxing him.
Watch Anthony Joshua v Eric Molina at the Manchester Arena, on December 10, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book the event via your Sky remote or online here.
