Some fights just ooze excitement and the upcoming WBC Lightweight title bout between champion Antonio DeMarco (27-2-1, 20) and highly rated challenger John Molina (24-1, 19) looks like a real show stealer this coming weekend.
At 29 years old American challenger John Molina will know that this is likely to be his big chance at making a name for himself having spent much of his career fighting on things like ESPN Friday Night Fights and ShoBox: The New Generation. Winning a world title won't out and out make him a global boxing star but it will open doors to him and of course bring in much bigger pay days than he's ever likely to get otherwise.
Molina made his professional debut back in 2006 when he defeated Lester Balmores (KO2) and was kept active through out the early part of his career with 9 fights in his first 21 months as a professional. Whilst none of those 9 bouts were huge he did manage to stop the then 7-0 Eddie Brooks in a note-worthy victory.
It was in 2009 that Molina started to get the attention of the boxing world as he started to score a number of notable victories over more well known names including former Commonwealth title contender Joshua Allotey (KO3) and veterans Frankie Archuleta (TKO2) and Efren Hinojosa (KO1). Those wins saw Molina moving to 18-0 (14) and proving that he was a deadly body puncher with many of his stoppages coming after stunning body blows.
Having began to get on a roll Molina was unexpectedly beaten by veteran former title challenger Martin Honorio. Honorio managed to dominate Molina as he used his jab, movement and right hands to the body to upset Molina's momentum whilst Molina himself failed to really get going. Thankfully for Molina it took him little time to recover from his loss and less than 8 months later he scored a notable upset himself stopping the then unbeaten and highly regarded prospect Henry Lundy on ESPN Friday Night Fights. This victory earned Lundy the WBO NABO Lightweight title and solid world ranking. Following the victory over Lundy we've seen Molina score 3 more victories and move his professional record to 24-1 (19). Going into this bout he is the #15th ranked Lightweight according to the WBC (who oddly rank Lundy at #10).
In terms of his style Molina isn't the most skilled (far from it in all honesty) but he's incredibly tough, heavy handed and throws brilliant body shots. Despite being a rather rangy Lightweight (standing around 5'10" an with a 72" reach) Molina likes to fight up close with his fights often becoming a "you hit me, I hit you" affair with his his size and power generally winning. As well as not being the most skilled he's not particularly fast (with either his feet or hands) and he can be out boxed (as Honorio did and as Lundy was doing for a number of rounds) in fat he often looks lumbering when forced to chance opponents.
At 26 years old the Champion Antonio DeMarco is the younger man but he's also a fighter, like the challenger who gives a lot of excitement despite being rather technically limited and that's why some, myself included, are very excited by this bout.
Despite being younger than the challenger DeMarco has been around longer having made his debut back in 2004 when he was just 18. Despite his early start in the sport it wasn't until 2008 that DeMarco started to make a name for himself, helped in part to an appearance on ShoBox: The New Generation where DeMarco defeated the then unbeaten Juan Castaneda Jr. The victory over Castaneda was followed by a decision victory over the then highly ranked Jose Reyes on ESPN Friday Night Fights. Those two victories really started to put DeMarco into some limelight and started his run up the rankings.
Having made a name for himself in 2008 DeMarco continued his rise with televised victories over Almazbek Raiymkulov (better known as "Kid Diamond"), Anges Adjaho and Jose Alfaro with the victory over Alfaro actually earning DeMarco the WBC interim Lightweight title. DeMarco's winning ways however would come to an end in his next fight as he took a beating from the WBC's full champion Edwin Valero (in what would be Valero's final bout).
The loss to Valero would have finished lesser fighters however DeMarco bounced back from the loss just 5 months later as he defeated Daniel Attah (TKO2) and then followed it up with a victory over Reyes Sanchez (UD12). The victory over Sanchez saw DeMarco become the WBC #1 contender and after Humberto Soto moved up to Light Welterweight we saw DeMarco facing the ultra talented Jorge Linares in a bout for the vacant WBC Lightweight title. Against Linares, DeMarco was clearly out boxed for the 5 rounds however he fought his way back into the bout and eventually ground down a bloodied Linares in round 11 to claim the WBC title.
Since winning the title in October against Linares, DeMarco has defended his belt once viciously stopping Miguel Roman in eye catching fashion. He now looks to secure his second defense inside a year by facing Molina.
Like Molina, DeMarco isn't hugely skilled, he's not a particularly versatile fighter or a fast fighter but he's teak tough (as shown in his battle with Valero) and and happy to walk throw punches to grind down opponents (as shown against Linares). He hits incredibly hard, is accurate and is capable of wearing most opponents down. He's certainly there to be hit but would likely fancy his chances in a war with any top Lightweight as long as they will stand and trade with him.
On paper this looks like a thriller. We have two fighters with power who like to mix it up and depend on their chin and power to win bouts rather than out boxing opponents. This is guaranteed to be a tear up. With this in mind there is only 1 winner, DeMarco is just the more powerful and tougher man, however this will be hugely fun for as long as it lasts.
Prediction- DeMarco by TKO 6 in an all action bout between two guys who will trade off early before DaMarco grinds down the challenger.
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