By Jim Dower: In something of a surprise result, 41-year-old #1 IBF Cornelius “K9″ Bundrage (34-5, 19 KOs) defeated International Boxing Federation junior middleweight champion Carlos Molina (22-6-2, 6 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at the Oasis Resort in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Molina was knocked down twice in the fight by Bundrage. Molina was dropped in the 1st and 10th rounds.
The final judges’ scores were 116-109, 117-106 and 115-110.
Molina took too many heavy shots from Bundrage, and he was unable to steal the rounds by clinching like he normally does. Molina was trying to smother Bundrage’s power by hitting and grabbing immediately, but Bundrage did a good job of working on the inside and muscling Molina. Bundrage was clearly the much stronger fighter of the two in terms of punching power and in upper body strength.
While Molina was looking to hit and hold, Bundrage was focusing more on landing telling shots to win rounds.
Molina was hurt in the 1st round a couple of times by big shots from Bundrage. In the 8th, Bundrage hurt Molina again after nailing him with a big shot to the heat. It was a good round for Bundrage.
Molina came back in the 9th and 10th in trying to pressure Bundrage.
Bundrage previously held the IBF 154 pound title from 2010 to 2013 in defending the title three times. However, he was beaten by Ishe Smith last year by a 12 round majority decision. Bundrage failed to take advantage of his time as the IBF champion because he wasn’t busy as a champion and he failed to defend it against the bigger names in the division like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Miguel Cotto. Hopefully for Bundrage’s sake he defends his title more than just once per year. He’s too old to be defending his belt just one time per year.
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