These are the current champs at 122 as of today. Two belts are on the line today and one next week. What fights do you want to see made after today's and next weeks fights? any other contenders besides the champs? and does anyone have any info on Steve Molitor and Takalani Ndlovu? IBF - Steve Molitor (24-0 10KO's) IBO - Takalani Ndlovu (27-4 17KO's) WBO - Daniel Ponce de Leon (31-1 28KO's) vs Rey Bautista (23-0 17KO's) on 08/11 WBA - Celestino Caballero (26-2 18KO's) vs Jorge Lacierva (32-6 22KO's) today WBC - Rafael Marquez (37-3 33KO's) vs Israel Vasquez (41-4 30KO's) today If Marquez wins tonights fight I would like to see him fight the winner of Ponce de Leon - Bautista or Caballero - Lacierva to unify belts. If Vasquez wins, I wouldn't mind a trilogy since it would be a guaranteed war.
I'd love to see Molitor against Bautista. But, although he's only Euro champ at the moment, my face 122 figghter is Dunne.
Molitor is on fire right now. He has always been a class boxer but he has added some serious power to his punches now. He will give any of the other champs a real hard time.
Real champ is Marquez, if other fighters want to be man they have to beat him. I would agree that Molitor is the one who has more upside.
Molitor already defeated Ndlovu in convincing fashion to move him into the top 5 in the RING ratings. Personally, I'd like to see the winner of Marquez-Vasquez II defend their championship against Cabellero, while the winner of Ponce/Bautista faces Molitor to determine the next contender.
Fantastic division. Molitor is the purest boxer on the list imo. Could take the number 1 spot at some point too..depends what Marquez does, molitor beats De Leon easily.
I think that Marquez is already the unified and Ring champion, since Vasquez and Larios unified IBF, WBC and Ring belt. Molitor already KO'd Ndlovu in his last fight so his out of the picture. so as it stands Real Champion at 122 Rafael Marquez vs Israel Vasquez(WBC/Ring Mag) Belt Holders at 122 Celestino Caballero vs Jorge Lacierva(WBA) Daniel Ponce de Leon vs Rey Bautista(WBO) Steve Molitor(IBF) Some of the Prospects and contenders jhonny Gonzales [SIZE=-1]Somsak Sithchatchawal Juan Manuel Lopez [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Abner Mares[/SIZE]
The man to the left there is one very big contender int he division . Bernard Dunne European champion . Marquez is obviously the true champ and Molitor is a lovely boxer who's starting to put guys away . Sithchatchawal would be dangerous for anybody , as would Gonzalez when he moves back up , Dunne would be capable of outboxing anyone in the division including Molitor but the likes of Marquez or Caballero would get to him , wear him down and stop him . It's for this reason that Brian Peters(Dunne's promoter) is looking to get a fight with Steve Molitor int he near future , Molitor may be the slickest and sweetest boxer of the lot but he probably doesn't hit as hard and certainly is no come forward brawler . It's a great division , with some really exciting fights that could be made , plenty of young prospects coming through in it aswell . I feel sorry for the people who say things like 'I ignore everything below Featherweight' , they don't have a clue what they're missing
I don't understand why Caballero gets no respect. He has the best physical tools of the bunch, and he's beaten some pretty good fighters, including Ponce De Leon and Castillo, and Somsak Sithchatchawal literally in his own backyard. IMO he's easily #2 in the weight class, and if he catches Rafa on a bad day, he could beat him as well.
If you would like to watch the Molitor vs. Ndlovu fight from last month, you can see it on TSN broadband. anyone who is interested in this division may want to check it out. here is a direct link: http://broadband.tsn.ca/tsn/?id=1935
