David Price or Eric Molina up next for Anthony Joshua

Now that the big fight against Wladimir Klitschko has officially crumbled for the time being, Anthony Joshua will face either David Price (21-3, 18 KOs) or Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) on Dec. 10. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed these two as potential opponents to ESPN, and expects to make a formal announcement this week.

That’s probably a good idea since we’re just over 6 weeks out from the scheduled fight date.

Neither David Price nor Eric Molina will really move the needle for boxing fans, but that’s what we’re going to get anyways. And really no blame should be directed at either Joshua or his promoter as they tried their darndest to make the compelling fight here — so much so that they’re now operating on short notice to put something else together.

David Price’s trainer Dave Coldwell says that he hopes his man gets the call while acknowledging that Molina is in play, but insists that Molina would be a lesser opponent than Price.

“Molina is the guy we said we would fight on Joshua's undercard on Dec. 10 so I think it's a step back for them to fight Molina, he's the easier opponent.

"I understand it's not an ideal situation for a world title fight. We have less than seven weeks to go, you have no 'name' opponent for Joshua, and, apart from the hardcore fans, no one has heard of Molina in this country."

All in all, instead of the bountiful Christmas we were promised, we’re winding up with more lumps of coal than anything.

2017 can’t come soon enough.