Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Carlos Molina possible for December

By Boxing News - 10/03/2015 - Comments

marquez7By Dan Ambrose: It looks like we could be seeing 42-year-old former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (57-6-2, 40 KOs) facing 32-year-old former IBF junior middleweight champion Carlos Molina (23-6-2, 7 KOs) in a farewell fight for Marquez in December.

The Marquez-Molina hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it’s tentative for December. Marquez has been out of the ring for the past year and a half since beating Mike Alvarado by a 12 round unanimous decision last May at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Marquez injured his right knee in the fight, and the injury has kept him out of the ring ever since.

Marquez can make a lot more money for his next fight if he elects to face Manny Pacquiao in a fifth fight in early 2016. Thus far, Marquez has given no indication that he’ll agree to take that fight.

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“For me it would be like a dream deal with someone like Juan Manuel Marquez, it is a legend, and do it in Mexico,” Molina said to ESPN Deportes. “I hope that I can take it, also because I’m going down to Middleweight, and I was world champion, so I hope this can be achieved.”

Molina lost his IBF junior middleweight title last year in getting beaten by 42-year-old Cornelius Bundrage by a one-sided 12 round decision. Molina captured the IBF title in 2013 in beating Ishe Smith by a 12 round split decision. Molina only made one defense of his IBF title in losing to Bundrage. Since then, Molina recently defeated Manuel Garcia by a 3rd round knockout last month on September 19th in Mexico.

Going out on a fight against junior middleweight Molina would seem like a very odd way for Marquez to end his career. Marquez, 5’7”, is a small welterweight, and he’d be giving up two inches in height and three inches in reach to the 5’9” Molina. It could prove to be a very difficult fight for Marquez, because Molina is something of an octopus in the ring with his usual punch and grab fighting style. Marquez may find it difficult to get his shots off with all the holding that Molina will likely be doing in the fight.

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There are very few opportunities to get shots off against a clincher like Molina. If Molina leans on Marquez and holds onto him with all his weight, he could give Marquez a lot of problems with his injured. I don’t think this is a great match-up for a fighter coming off of a knee injury like Marquez, because the last thing he needs is for Molina to be draping himself on him all night long to cause him to strain his knee by him trying to hold up a bigger and heavier fighter.

Molina has had some controversial draws in his career against Erislandy Lara and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Molina fought Chavez Jr. twice earlier in his career, and was on the receiving end of two questionable decisions. The first fight was a draw and the second one a win for Chavez Jr. Molina appeared to win both of them against the more popular Chavez Jr., but it’s not surprising that Molina failed to get a victory in both fights. It’s not easy beating Chavez Jr, especially back then in 2006, before he’d been beaten.



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