by George Goddiess at ringside – In a battle of two outstanding amateurs, welterweights Jamal James and Javier Molina go ten spirited and competitive rounds. All though the unanimous cards turned in by Sergio Caiz, Lou Moret, and Zac Young had James victorious by a range of four to eight points the fight was very competitive and interesting throughout. James was busier throwing 713 blows to Molina’s 329. Jamal James was most effective behind his jab and followed it up nicely with straight right hands to the head and even the body. Javier Molina was successful with his overhand right to the head and found moments of success with the left hook to the body.
The first four rounds were very closely fought. James did his best to stay behind the jab and create opportunities at range while Molina looked for ways to get inside and countered nicely with his overhand right. Molina started the fight early on as pursuer of the taller James and sought to fight him toe to toe but was susceptible to right hand counters down the middle. One such right hand in the opening round looked to have briefly buckled the knees of Molina but that was quickly answered with a left hook to the body. After round four the fight seemed to be even or at least very close. Round five started off with a clash of heads but there was no cut from the collision. This is the round where James started to really shift the momentum in his direction. He landed a solid right hand and left hook combination and dug two straight right hands to the midsection of Molina. Molina did respond with a solid over hand right and a left hook to the body but it was not enough to steal the round.
Round six was a very interesting round that was controlled largely by James despite Molina landing a big over hand right. The punch came after around two minutes of total control behind the jab and right hand to the head and body by James. The over hand right caught James with his head high and it looked to have rocked him. James went into a full retreat but later in the round jabbed down the stretch showing his legs had returned. The fight began to rest into a pattern in the second half as James began to really just take the initiative by being the busier fighter and using his height to choose where and how the match was fought. Outside of attempting to steal rounds with hooks Molina was just not able to get his hands on James enough to turn the tide as the fight began to run away from him. Molina just did not take it to another level as far as aggression and output and even when he did get inside he did not do enough. He could land a left hook or two to the body but would often times back out only to be a target for the James jab. Round nine was the quiet round of this fight where they both seemed to take a breather.
In round ten the pro Molina crowd was silent as it appeared obvious their man was not going to get the decision in the fight. Molina showed no added desperation given it was the last round and just went out for more of the same. Jamal James intelligently jabbed and stuck out the right hand and avoided a slugfest to close out the fight. He took several bows to the crowd as Molina just walked back to his corner accepting his defeat. The Lou Moret score of 99-91 was a little too wide but the Zac Young 97-93 is closer to the truth and there is not really a case of having it closer. Jamal James continues to be an undefeated fighter ins a sea of talented welterweights in a division ready to open up with Floyd Mayweather seemingly gone and Manny Pacquiao on his way out. At 6 foot, two inches tall and a young 27 years of age he is going to be a difficult obstacle.
For James this is his just his second time going the full ten round distance but he is now 8-0 while going eight rounds or more. This is a big step up for him but even then Molina is a decorated amateur who has not quite taken off in his six year pro career. James has recorded two very good wins in a row with a unanimous decision over Molina and coming off of the floor to drop and score a decision over Juan Carlos Abreu. He probably needs just a little bit more seasoning before facing a top ten guy and there is a perfect Premier Boxing Champions welterweight in Erick Bone who would not be a bad opponent choice. Bone is coming off of a decision loss to Chris Algieri but fought a good fight for the first half. That would be another good measuring stick as could be a fight with say Ionut Dan Ion or Roberto Garcia.
As for Javier Molina he may have been a decorated amateur who competed in the 2007 World Championships and a member of the United States 2008 Olympic team but now he finds himself defeated in front of his home crowd. He has only fought roughly three fights per year in a six year career and this was his first full ten rounder. To add to this is the fact that he has reportedly broken his hand four times in the past. He showed a lack of fire in the last round in not going all out knowing he was behind and it just makes me wonder where he is. He took his first loss back in 2011 to Artemio Reyes in an eight round decision but took four years to really test himself again. He clearly has solid fundamentals in the ring with crisp punching and skillful footwork. Molina just needs to take this experience and move on. He should not take a major step back in skill level like he did after the Reyes loss. He should face another opponent of similar caliber but maybe just avoid a fighter with a significant height and reach advantage. Abreu seemed to create success with James by bending the rules and forcing opportunities by being aggressive. Molina needed to do that tonight but just did not impose himself in that way.
On the undercard we were treated to see Caleb Plant put on a solid display of defense, footwork and combination punching. It was an all-around perfect performance from the first round. With 11 wins to no losses and 8 wins by knockout the former Golden Gloves champion won the first five rounds with total ease and ended it in the sixth. Plant appears to have filled out physically since his days as a member of the United States World Series of Boxing team and also looks to have improved his footwork. He fights a very fluid style with a low left hand and quick direction changing foot work. He used his eyes to anticipate punches coming in and swiftly ducked underneath or pivoted and leaned out of the way of Adasat Rodriguez’s punches. Plant dominated to the point of looking into the crowd and just completely disregarding Rodriguez’s punches.
Highlights in this fight would include a clash of heads in the first round that opened a cut above the left eye of Rodriguez, a left hook caused Rodriguez to spit out his mouthpiece, and again in the sixth another right hand sends the mouthpiece flying out. Plant was most effective doubling a left hook to the body and back up to the head. He brought out a good shovel hook and constantly pierced up the middle with a good up jab. The crowd booed momentarily during the fight but Plant stayed composed and fought his fight. Round four was by far the most competitive as Rodriguez actually landed a left hook in an exchange and had a late rally though it was tough to actually see if anything landed clean. Plant did momentarily sit on the ropes giving him an opportunity to be hit by a Rodriguez who would not give up but just was not equipped to land anything. He was missing by quite a large margin on his hooks. The fight ended in the sixth round when around the midway point Plant decided to unload. He fired two jabs and a right hand to the head with a left hook to the body. He threw a jab while anticipating the hook in return and landed his punch while avoiding the return. He sent out three left hooks and waiting for Rodriguez to throw and then made him pay with a flush left hook. This punch sent Rodriguez to his corner straight back with his hands down prompting referee Tom Taylor to call the fight off.
Caleb Plant put out a very good account of himself. Rodriguez was an unknown and may never be seen in the US again but he has fought for two minor titles (Spanish Light heavyweight and European Union Light heavyweight) and had gone ten rounds three times and made it to the 12th round twice. He took respected up and coming Erik Shoglund into the 12th and final round before being stopped. That can put into context that this is an impressive result even if the opponent was quite obviously a level below Plant from the onset. Plant must have earned fans in almost all who viewed these fights tonight and we should look forward to seeing more of his fights in the future.
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