Lara Escapes With a Draw Against Molina

By Paul Strauss: Fight Night Fights intended to showcase the talents of the undefeated Cuban star, but Erislandy Lara was lethargic and barely scaped with a ten round draw. The crowd at the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas shouted their displeasure with a chorus of boo’s. They clearly felt Molina deserved the win.

Another person in the know who agreed with them was Lara’s own trainer Ronnie Shields. In between rounds, he could be heard pleading with and scolding his fighter. Their was no doubt who he thought was winning.

Molina managed to take advantage of whatever Lara gave him, so much so that fans thought he deserved the majority of rounds. For most of the fight he was busier with multiple punch combinations, after which he would slide off to his left to avoid the southpaw Lara’s power left hand.

Molina never had Lara hurt or marked up, but he did sting him more than once, and he generally stayed more aggressive. Lara did not look impressive; although, there were moments when it appeared as if he could. He just didn’t sustain anything for a long enough period of time to clearly take over rounds.

Referee Tony Weeks had a relatively easy time of things. There weren’t many clinches, and neither fighter held for any prolonged periods. Lara did get cautioned a couple of times for pushing Molina’s head down, but nothing too dramatic.

Molina’s strategy was to get through Lara’s early attempts to score a knockout, and then wear him down. That didn’t really happen, but it wasn’t necessary, because Lara never really got going in the first place. He seemed to be looking too much for the big shot, and as a result found himself off balance after his misses. That prevented him from following up with good sharp combinations.

On the other hand, Molina was content with staying busy, and not trying to load up. That allowed him to be effective in kind of a pesky way. He fought smart in how he postioned himself, moving to his left when needed, or getting under Lara’s big shots and then generating his own two and three punch counters, employing the right uppercut, which scored points.

When the end came, one judge scored the fight 97-93 in favor of Molina. That represented how the crowd saw the fight. The other two judges saw the fight 95-95, which meant a majority draw, and a big sigh of relief from the Lara corner.

The other big Cuban name on the card, Yudel Jhonson got a gift quick stoppage against Richard Gutierrez. Jhonson was definitely winning the fight, but he did not hurt Gutierrez until the seventh round, when the southpaw landed a good right hook to the left side of Richard’s head. Gutierrez’ legs wobbled, and he backed up to the ropes. Jhonson pursued him and fired off several punches, all of which seemed to be blocked by Gutierrez’ high, tight guard. Just as Gutierrez started to fire back, Referee Russell Mora jumped in and stopped the fight. It seemed to be a very quick stoppage. Jhonson stays undefeated.