By Ted Sares – Carlos Vinan was called an “opponent” by ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas as he prepared to do battle with home town hero and Teamster Union favorite John Molina (15-0) on the undercard of the Peter-Chambers match at the Nokia Center on March 28.
Maybe he was an opponent, but if so, this kid from New Jersey by way of Ecuador was a tough one who was not about to be Molina’s walk over.. Heck, a review of his record, which Teddy may not have done, revealed that he was a tough kid having been stopped only once in 18 outings with a record of 8-6-3. But curiously, 3 of his defeat came by MD or SD and his first win came against “Irish” Mickey Ward’s nephew, Sean Eklund.
Atlas mentioned that Vinan had not done well in his last 7. That was misleading. Three of those “losses” were draws against stiff competition including Eloy “The Prince” Perez who is now 13-0-2. His last eleven opponents had winning records and eight of them came in undefeated. Moreover, the kid has fought in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut (both the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods), New York, Maryland, Florida, California (three times), Illinois, and Nevada. There is something very “old school” about that, something I like.
The Fight
When the first bell rang, Vinan immediately launched an all out inside attack and did not stop punching until the second bell rang again. In between, he threw an amazing 137 punches. Molina, for his part, also threw 106 punches. It was an all out war reminiscent of those fought by Sucre Ray Oliviera, though Molina‘s punches were a bit sharper. The second round started out the same way, but Molina got enough separation to land the harder and more punishing shots until referee David Mendoza had seen enough and rightly called a halt to the all out action at the 2.40 mark.
Even then, the bloodied but unbowed Vinan wanted to continue because he had a fighter’s heart, and most of all, because he came to fight.