The brothers are the truth. With all due respect to Molina, who deserved to hold a world title after clawing his way up for several years (robbed arguably 5x between 2005 and 2011: Chavez I & II, Willingham, Alvarado, Lara...and on his way to being robbed when Kirkland dropped him leading to a bizarre DQ ending that rendered the awful scoring moot...all that with a handful of decent official wins sprinkled in...) - he didn't exactly distinguish himself from Ishe Smith. I had their contest a draw. Ishe, although we are buddies on Facebook and he is another feel-good story of someone who deserved to become champion for years of sticking around putting in hard work...in most people's view was a 'paper titlist'. Molina squeaked by him via split decision, which again, on my card read a draw meaning Smith ought to have retained with Molina not even currently being champ. Charlo is on his way to big things. Molina is just a stop on the road.
Charlo has that exciting style, but Molina could push him like never before. If Molina gets Charlo to fight his fight, Molina could rough him up. If Charlo happens to win, then at least there's a new, exciting champ. Lara will be eagerly watching this one. I think he'd rather face Charlo than Molina again! Way Molina looked last time out, doesn't surprise me Charlo is favored.
Has Charlo paid enough dues yet, or is he being disrespectful fighting for a title? :think IBF JrMW rankings as of Feb. 23rd: 1.Not Rated 2.Not Rated 3.Damian Jonak 4.Sergey Rabchenko 5.Jermell Charlo 6.Miguel Cotto 7.Ishe Smith 8.Cornelius Bundrage 9.Jonathan Gonzalez 10.James Kirkland 11.Charles Bellamy/Ota 12.Saul Alvarez 13.Willie Nelson 14.Jermall Charlo 15.Joey Hernandez
:huh Unless there's some undisclosed injury or backroom deal that I'm unaware of , I don't really understand this one. Molina has already had considerable success against rangy guys with skills(Lara, Smith) and guys with comparable power(Kirkland, Cintron, Jr.). Even with the probability of the fight going the distance and a crooked decision being factored in, he shouldn't be a dog against this guy.
Just to add to my previous post... I don't believe Molina should be a big favorite either, as his style lends itself to tight decisions that can go either way. That said, he's had considerable success against better overall fighters(Lara) and bigger punchers(Kirkland) and , if anyone should be a favorite(albeit a small one), it should be Molina. On the flip side, Charlo hasn't fought anyone like Molina before. This doesn't mean that Charlo can't win, but I definitely think the odds are off.