By John G. Thompson: Erislandy Lara (15-0-1, 10 KO’s) and Carlos Molina (17-4-2, 5 KO’s) fought to a majority draw tonight on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights broadcast from the multi-billion dollar Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. While Lara was the favorite going into the bout, it was clear by cheers and boos of the crowd that Molina had pulled quite an upset.
Originally from Cuba but now fighting out of Miami, Florida, Lara has a record which boasts eight first round knockouts (including each of his four prior bouts) and he is trained by one of the sport’s top trainers, Ronnie Shields. Molina, originally from Mexico but now living in Chicago, Illinois, split a draw and a loss with Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and suffered another loss to Mike Alvarado (both of whom were undefeated at the time). Molina has been on a nine fight winning streak since then.
Early in the fight Lara looked to close the show by taking steps back in order to lure Molina into his left uppercuts. This tactic alone probably won Lara a few rounds, though Molina’s skillful head movement and aggression allowed him to not only remain competitive, but take the lead on the score cards of the ringside commentators, and seemed to endear him to the crowd at Las Vegas.
There were no knockdowns, though Lara landed a huge left in the ninth as Molina looked tired. No one really took away the tenth and final round, though Molina went on the attack in the final ten seconds. Ringside commentator Teddy Atlas scored it a draw, as did two of the judges, resulting in a majority draw and boos from the crowd. The other judge had it 97-93 for Molina, which brought cheers from the crowd, who clearly thought he deserved the decision.
Yudel Jhonson (10-0, 7 KO’s) won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics as a light welterweight, and has been undefeated so far in his professional career since defecting from Cuba. His opponent, Richard Gutierrez (26-6-1, 16 KO’s), from Columbia but now also living in Miami, Florida, had only won two fights in his last seven, his last being a twelve round TKO loss. Upon further inspection, those two wins came against fighters with pathetic records of 0-7 and 0-2. Although a few of his losses came at the hands of some excellent fighters (Luis Carlos Abregu, Alfredo Angulo, and Joshua Clottey for example), nevertheless, the outcome of this match was a foregone conclusion.
It was certainly not a highly entertaining fight, though it was the type of bout the aficionados could appreciate, in the way Jhonson moved. He floated around the ring, circling his opponent, never allowing the ring to be cut off and engaging only when he chose to, otherwise staying out of range. One minute into the seventh round the southpaw Jhonson caught Gutierrez with a right hook at the end of a three punch combination which seemed to hurt Gutierrez. Jhonson came in unloading upstairs and down as Gutierrez backed into the ropes, raising his guard. Just as Gutierrez let loose a counter right, Referee Russell Mora jumped in, making the horribly ill-timed decision to stop the bout. Gutierrez threw the right again with Referee Mora between them, clearly still game. Those in attendance booed heavily and ringside commentator Joe Tessitore said it best, “The crowd doesn’t like the quick stoppage, but they should appreciate the skill of Yudel Jhonson.”
Also in action, two-time world amateur champion Yunier Dorticos (12-0, 12 KO’s), originally from Cuba but now in Miami, stopped Jose Luis Herrera (16-11, 16 KO’s) of San Onofre, Colombia in just the second round. Herrera had lost six in a row going into this bout and already been knocked out seven times in his career. Herrera went down in the final minute of the second courtesy of a hard counter straight right, which was followed up with a combination. After getting up, Dorticos landed a hard multiple punch combination ending with a right uppercut which buckled Herrera’s legs. Referee Tony Weeks wisely stopped the bout, though Dorticos continued to verbally taunt Herrera in a completely un-sportsmanlike display.