Unbeaten heavyweight Filip Hrgović (9-0, 7 KOs) faces former world title challenger Eric Molina (27-5, 19 KOs) at the Diriyah Arena in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on December 7 on the undercard of the rematch between WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr and former champ Anthony Joshua, shown live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN in the US. Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Hrgović will be defending his WBC International title.
Also, former WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (35-2, 24 KOs) is confirmed for the undercard as he takes on Michael Hunter (18-1, 12 KOs) in an eliminator for the WBA world title.
Former WBA super bantamweight world champion Scott Quigg (35-2-2, 26 KOs) meets former world title challenger Jono Carroll (17-1-1, 3 KOs) for the WBA Inter-Continental title in an England vs. Ireland showdown at 126lbs.
Povetkin vs Hunter should be a good fight Molina is over his head with Hgrovic more than likely.
Very impressive card…
The only thing shaping up that I forecast is Ruiz putting on a counter punch clinic on Joshua’s sensitive target spots located on the body and chin.
Scooby Doo: I wonder if Joshua is not going to fight like he fought against Parker and win a boring points victory?
I personally think that is the only recipe Joshua can do to win. When Ruiz and Joshua went toe-to-toe, Ruiz’s counter punching was a rude awakening for Joshua. Ruiz should cut him off and get him on the ropes. However, Joshua is so used to being the “bigger and more muscular” guy, not sure he can keep the discipline active enough to only box and not show his cunning size.
Some of you have been around for a while so I will simply point out one thing that concerns me. We recently saw pictures of Ruiz posted by Hunter and he does look allot lighter having 5 weeks left he will continue to shed.
I am not sure if Ruiz understands the impact it can have on his performance in this fight.
We know that fighters can and do over train where they leave it all in the gym and come fight night they just dont have it.
We also know Dramatic weight loss can have an adverse effect, he might have a little more speed but will his new frame be able to maintain he still has to pace himself he doesnt know exactly what kind of punch output he is going to have being so much lighter.
Then there is the question as to how this will effect his power but more importantly his ability to take a shot.
I am going to point to Chris Byrd, when he came up he wasnt fat like Ruiz but he was a little soft around the mid section.
After winning the vacant IBF title against Holyfield all of the sudden Byrd wanted to get cut up and have that muscular look and as a result look what happened.
Byrd Became much easier to hit found himself on the deck in a couple of fights and found himself in some very very close fights against guys that were just average if that even.
These fights were
Oquendo, Golota and McClein
So with Ruiz not even having tested this new frame is a huge gamble