By Jason Kim: In a terribly boring fight, former three-time title challenger Jameel McCline (39-9-3, 23 KOs) defeated undersized Mike Mollo (19-3, 12 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision in the World Boxing Council (WBC) title eliminator on Friday night at the Sichuan Gymnasium, in Chengdu, China. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 116-111 and 114-113. McCline, now 38, has previously failed three times in title challenges against Wladimir Klitschko, Nikolay Valuev and Samuel Peter. However, with his win over Mollo, McCline is set for future title shot against Vitali Klitschko, if the Ukrainian survives his likely next fight against Juan Carlos Gomez.
McCline and Mollo did little actual fighting in the early going, choosing to wrestle and throw weak shots on the inside. McCline hardly threw any punches in rounds one through five. During the first two rounds, McCline and Mollo fought cautiously, posing a lot and appearing afraid to let their hands go.