Anthony Joshua KOs Eric Molina in third round to retain IBF heavyweight title

It lasted about as long as most boxing fans figured. That is, not very.

When it ended at 2:02 of the third round, with Texan Eric Molina being hopelessly outmanned, Anthony Joshua was still the IBF heavyweight champion, still undefeated with all 18 of his professional victories coming by knockout, and with a third consecutive American fighter being dispatched with little trouble. All this before an appreciative sold-out crowd at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England on Saturday night.

Molina (29-4, 19 KOs) came out tentative, defensive, even cowering at times as Joshua, the 2012 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist for England with the Mr. Universe body, took his time before finally getting his combinations going. He was getting little in return from Molina, who was allowing Joshua to push him back much of time, appearing to wait for an opening for a big counterpunch that never came.

In the third, Joshua landed a crushing right hand that dropped Molina, who didn't look like he would get up, but made it to his feet by the count of nine. By then it was just a matter of time as Joshua continued to punish Molina before referee Steve Gray stepped in seconds later and waved the fight off.

Joshua already has a third title defense lined up for Wembley Stadium in London on April 29th against longtime heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who was sitting ringside.

"(Molina) was trying to tee up with some haymakers, but in boxing they look for the shots to try and stop you," Joshua said. "I was patient, because people try to pressure you. But we move on. It's not the end of the story yet. . . . we'll get back to the drawing board and look forward to 2017."

Asked about Molina's tentative style, Joshua said, "There are two things you can do. You can get the type of fight Dillian (Whyte) and Dereck (Chisora) had (in an all-action heavyweight undercard fight won by Whyte by split decision), or you can come in the ring like Eric Molina. But it's hard dealing with a negative fighter who's not giving you many options. Someone who's boxing and moving can give you some opportunities. But someone who's fighting on the back foot, you have to create them. So I just stayed patient."

The one-sidedness of the fight was bore out in the CompuBox statisics, which showed Joshua landed 38 punches to Molina's six.

Joshua won his title with an early KO against Charles Martin in April, and then stopped undefeated Dominic Breazeale in June with a seventh-round TKO.

Molina is coming off a knockout of former cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek in April in Poland. Molina was knocked out in the ninth round in June 2015 by Deontay Wilder in Birmingham, Ala. Molina broke his ankle in that fight.

Molina told Paste BN Sports last week that if he lost, he would hang up his gloves and get back to being a schoolteacher.

(Photo of Joshua landed a punch against Molina by Dave Thompson, AP)