Molina apologizes to fans for missing weight for Crawford fight

By Boxing News - 12/10/2016 - Comments

Image: Molina apologizes to fans for missing weight for Crawford fight

By Chris Williams: John Molina Jr. came in 4 pounds over the limit on Friday in weighing in at 144lbs for his title fight against WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford at the CenturyLink Arena in Omaha, Nebraska.

Molina Jr. (29-6, 23 KOs) says he took all the weight that he could in training camp, but he couldn’t lose the last 4 pounds. He’s outgrown the 140lb weight class, which isn’t surprising given that he’s 33-years-old now and he’s tall at 5’10”. It’s a wonder that Molina Jr. was able to make 140 at all in the past considering he’s huge for the weight class.

You can argue that some of Molina’s past defeats might be due to him having to drain down to a weight that isn’t right for his body size. Molina Jr. did make 140 for his last fight against Ruslan Provodnikov last June. Molina fought well in beating the Russian Provodnikov by a 12 round unanimous decision. He didn’t look weak for the fight.

Molina said this via fightnews.com about missing weight for the Crawford fight:

“I apologize to the fans, no excuses I should’ve made the weight, by no mistake did we not prepare,” said Molina Jr. “My body just rejected the cut. Everyone knows me, I’ve never missed weight before. From me to you, as a Nebraskan, I apologize. We did everything the same in camp, prepared just like the Provodnikov fight. My body just can’t make 140 any longer. I’m 33 years old now and I squeezed every drop out but my body just would cooperate. I take full consequences and I will give 100% tomorrow night, the fans will definitely get their money’s worth.”

Molina had to have done something wrong during training camp for him to all of a sudden miss making the weight. We don’t know how heavy Molina Jr. was when he started training camp. If Molina Jr. started camp weighing more than he usually does, then that might explain why he failed to make weight. Was Molina Jr. celebrating a little too much by overeating after his upset win over Ruslan Provodnikov earlier this year?

It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Molina Jr. celebrated a little too much after the Provodnikov fight by eating too much rather than getting back into the gym to start buckling down on his training to get ready for his next fight.

Hopefully, Molina Jr. isn’t too weak to fight at a high level on Saturday night for his fight against the 29-year-old Crawford on HBO Championship Boxing. If you saw Molina Jr. at Friday’s weigh-in, you’ll have noticed that he looked weak and sick physically. Both of Molina’s eyes were sunken in with dark circles under them both. His eyes looked glazed like someone that should have been at home resting rather than taking part in a weigh-in. Whether Molina’s struggles to make the weight will negatively impact him for tomorrow night’s fight remains to be seen.

Crawford looked very thin at the weigh-in as well in coming in at 139 ½ pounds. Crawford weighed in at 140lbs for his last fight against Viktor Postol last July, and he ended up rehydrating to 157lbs. If Crawford rehydrates to the same amount on Saturday night, then it could be tough for Molina to do anything against him. Molina might rehydrate to the same amount, so it could be interesting.

With both of these guys so big, it’s hard to understand why Crawford and Molina didn’t move up to welterweight a long time ago to compete against guys their won size, because the top welterweight are rehydrating to around the same amount as Crawford, and they’re not trying to melt down to fight in the light welterweight division.

Crawford is expected to win this fight without any problems despite Molina being ranked highly at #1 WBA, #2 WBC, and #2 WBO. The sanctioning bodies were impressed with Molina’s win over Provodnikov, because they moved him up high in the rankings after the win. In that respect, the sanctioning bodies. However, I don’t know if you can really say that Molina Jr. has improved since his losses to Lucas Matthysse, Adrien Broner and Humberto Soto. I think Molina is the same fighter that lost those fights. The only difference is he beat a discouraged looking Provodnikov in his last fight.

Provodnikov looked like he wasn’t fully engaged for that fight, perhaps due to his recent loss to Matthysse. All you can hope is that Molina is able to fight hard for the full 12 rounds tonight, and that he doesn’t give another non-effort like he did in his losses to Soto and Broner. In both of those fights, Molina appeared to quit mentally in the first few rounds. He just did not look like he wanted to fight hard in those matches. Once you see that from a fighter, it’s likely you’re going to see it again. Even in Molina’s win over Mickey Bey, he fought without any fire until the 10th. At that point, Molina suddenly came alive and scored a knockout. But, he should have been able to fight like that earlier in the match if he was with it mentally.

Crawford needs a big win tonight to help him capture the 2016 ‘Fighter of the Year’ award. He also needs an impressive win for him to potentially get a fight against Manny Pacquiao. There’s no point in Pacquiao fighting Crawford if he squeaks by Molina or if he looks bad in winning the fight.