By Jason Kim: Former International Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Steve Molitor (31-1, 12 KO’s) defeated Argentinean Joe Saez (17-9-4, 8 KO’s) by an eight round decision on Saturday night at the Casino Rama, in Ontario, Canada.

Molitor, 29, who is still trying to work his way back into a title shot after being destroyed by Celestino Caballero last year in a 4th round blowout, had to survive a 5th round knockout to get the win over the journeyman Saez. It wasn’t a good sign that Molitor, ranked #2 IBF, #3 WBC and #11 WBO, had to struggle to get a win over Saez.

It was target practice early on in the fight as Molitor stalked Saez around the ring, tagging him with straight lefts and short hooks to the body and head. Saez, 34, mostly ran in the opening round using side to side movement. Saez turned the tables on Molitor in the 2nd round, hitting him with a big right hand and pressuring him constantly during the round. Molitor and Saez took turns stalking each other around the ring trading big shots.

In the 3rd and 4th rounds, Molitor had things mostly his way, as Saez did little to make a fight of it and spent a great deal of the time either running or laying against the ropes. However, every once in awhile, Saez would attack Molitor and find great success in landing over Molitor’s low guard. Early in the 5th round, an overanxious Molitor was dropped by a big left hand from Saez as Molitor came charging forward trying to land.

Molitor seemed to ignore his defense and was hit with his guard down by Saez. After the knockdown, Saez briefly attempted to take Molitor out. However, Molitor fought effectively for the remainder of the round and turned back Saez’s attacks. In rounds 6th and 7th, Molitor teed off on Saez as the 34-year-old spent more and more time against the ropes covering up. In the 8th round, Saez aggressively attacked Molitor outworking him and controlling the round.

It wasn’t a great performance from Molitor, who showed little power to speak of. It’s difficult to imagine Molitor winning another title in the near future because he’d have big problems if he were to face Caballero again and Juan Manuel Lopez would appear much too good for the weak punching Molitor as well. Molitor might be better off losing weight and moving down to the bantamweight division where he’d have a slightly better chance of winning another title.

***

In other action on the card, super flyweight Marvin Sonsona (14-0, 12 KO’s) fought to a 12 round draw with Alejandro Hernandez (22-7-2, 11 KO’s). The final judges’ scores were 115-113 for Sonsona, 115-113 for Hernandez and 114-114 even. Sonsona, 19, failed to make weight for the bout and thus lost his title World Boxing Organization super flyweight title in the process.

Sonsona looked very average in the first two rounds, throwing big left hand shots but getting nailed frequently by Hernandez because Sonsona fought with his hands down by his sides. Hernandez, 23, began to get to Sonsona more and more starting in the 3rd round. Hernandez discovered that if he backed Sonsona up, he couldn’t fight well going backwards and was very susceptible to right hands.

For the next nine rounds the two fighters traded shots and also traded rounds. Sonsona would do well winning one round but in the next one Hernandez would come back and batter Sonsona with hard combinations. At the end of the fight, Sonsona appeared to be the stronger fighter and looked to be in control. I scored the fight for Sonsona by three rounds. However, many of the rounds were close and difficult to score. It wasn’t an impressive performance by Sonsona, who apparently is going to be moving up in weight to the bantamweight division.