On Friday night, Carlos Molina (20-5-2 6KO) dominated and outboxed Cuban southpaw Damian Frias (19-5-1 10KO) to a unanimous decision victory in the main event of the season finale of Friday Night Fights on ESPN. Molina won the bout with in-and-out movement and a busier offense as he outworked Frias for the win. Frias was unable to land in combination as Molina proved to be slick and crafty. It’s those kinds of attributes Molina possesses that probably have every other super welterweight (154 Ibs.) uneager to fight him.
After the win, Molina expressed interests in fighting the elite of the weight class such as Miguel Cotto, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, James Kirkland, and Floyd Mayweather. A rematch with Kirkland would seem most appropriate considering that Molina suffered a controversial 10th round disqualification loss to Kirkland. At that point in the fight, Kirkland had managed to knock down Molina but was being outhustled and outboxed throughout the rest of the fight.
In the co-featured bout of the ESPN broadcast, Don George (23-2-1 20KO) rebounded from his decision loss to Edwin Rodriguez by stopping late replacement Dionisio Miranda (21-8-2 18KO) after six rounds. George stalked and put immense pressure on Miranda by moving forward, firing his left jab and powerful straight right hand. George had his most dominant round in the sixth and Miranda elected to quit on his stool after the round. It was most likely a wise decision considering the amount of punishment he was taking and his inability to hurt George.
On Saturday night, IBF 130Ibs. champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-1-1 16KO) made the sixth defense of his title against Jonathan Victor Barros (34-3-1 18KO) by winning a unanimous decision. This victory puts Salgado in position to challenge the only man to have beaten him, WBA champion Takashi Uchiyama (18-0-1 15KO). If that doesn’t happen, bouts between Yuriorkis Gamboa, the Donaire-Nishioka winner, or Orlando Salido are also possible.
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Categories: Boxing
