Anthony Joshua challenger Eric Molina: My heart lies working with disabled kids

03 December 2016 10:39

Anthony Joshua's next challenger Eric Molina is already preparing to return to his career as a special needs teacher, regardless of whether he wins the IBF heavyweight title.

Saturday night's fight at the Manchester Arena will be the 34-year-old American's first since boxing became a full-time pursuit, with his previous highest-profile match-ups - a ninth-round stoppage defeat by WBC champion Deontay Wilder and a shock victory over two-weight world champion Tomasz Adamek - having come while he was still working with disabled students.

Teaching those same students is where he believes his "destiny" lies, and it is also they who serve as his motivation as he believes he inspires them every time he succeeds.

"I'll definitely go back," said Molina, Joshua's second challenger since he became champion. "I work with disabled high-school students and, no matter what happens in this fight, I know my destiny is to go back and work with these kids. I love to do stuff like that.

"I work with kids who don't have much opportunities so I'm like a father figure to them.

"I've worked with kids with disabilities. That's where my heart's at and at the right time I'll go back there. Multi-tasking keeps me flowing, keeps me producing, and I'm just able to do it, and I love doing it.

"I took a leave of absence in May. We defeated Tomasz Adamek on April 2, I finished the school year and submitted my resignation and we've been training every day since."

In contrast to the 27-year-old Joshua - a fighter consumed by boxing and someone who consistently educates himself about the history of his sport - Molina had no interest in boxing in his youth.

He discovered he had a natural talent for it when, as an overweight 23-year-old, he first walked into a gym to improve his physical condition, and it is his late introduction to it that gives him confidence he is continuing to improve.

"I fought Deontay Wilder (in July 2015): I got off work at 4.30pm and trained at 5pm, ran at midnight, went to work the next day, sparred at the weekend and just tried to make it happen," he said. "It was the same thing for the Adamek fight.

"They judge me by the (Chris) Arreola fight (the second of three defeats), which was my first step up as heavyweight. You guys could've have beaten me - I was weak-minded.

"I have grown into a very dangerous heavyweight. There's no other heavyweight in the world who could have gone through the things I've gone through to get here.

"I have a vision in my mind as to where (Joshua) makes mistakes and I have a vision as to where I am very, very dangerous. In my mind, those fit together so well.

"I don't feel Dillian Whyte is a big puncher. He's a good fighter but he's not a big puncher, so I know if he can hurt (Joshua, as he did in their 2015 fight), I can.

"I've got a list of guys I've sparred with and you guys would drop your jaw if I told you who I've hurt. I know I can hurt this man - it's not even a question. Just like I know he can hurt me."

Source: PA