Starling - Molinares: Was the right call made?

I don't think Molinares should have been disqualified since he did not seem to do it intentionally nor should Starling have lost the bout since he was clearly struck after the bell. Calling it a no-contest was the right decision, in my opinion.

 

I remember seeing that fight way back in 1988, and although it was a shitty outcome, I'm not exactly sure how it should have been handled frankly. Starling was winning that fight handely through 6 rounds, until he turned away in anticipation of the round ending, and Molinares launched a missile just as the bell sounded. Frankly, given that fighters have been disqualified for such things as hitting men while they were down, low blows, etc, then it might have seemed like a fair call.. Of course, I seem to remember Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley reniewing the replays and determining the punch was already in motion, so I don't know what to thing. In any case, its been over 21 years since I've seen that match, so I may have forgotten a few details...

 

Had Cortez made the right call, Starling would have kept the belt. Unfortunately Molinares had already been crowned the champ and taking the belt away from him would have proved to be difficult.

In the end it did not really matter since Starling went onto win the welterweight title again Honeyghan while Molinares went nowhere.

Kind of reminds me of the Humberto Soto-Francisco Lorenzo situation really (Cortez was involved there too), except they had a rematch afterwards for the belt unlike Starling and Molinares.

 

Agreed,

On another note, however I don't know if I have ever really used this fight as a mark against Starling. It seemed more of a fluke and one that was questionable in nature. Incidentally, since the fight was ruled as a no contest, Starling " technically " has the claim to never having been " legitimatley" Ko'd...

 

Starling was sloppy and off-balance and got caught legitimately, it kind of reminds me of Graham leaving himself open against Jackson a bit.

Just one of those things the exchange happened to take place instantaneously with the bell.Maybe you could say he subconsciously relaxed in that split second between going to throw that punch and hearing the bell, thus not reacting the way he may have done to Molinares' shot.

I think Starling is the one who is damn lucky it happened when it did to be honest.He ****ed up.

 

It would have been interesting to see how Molinares would have continued, had he been able to keep his head in the game. I always wondered why I hadn't heard anymore about him after that fight. At anyrate, I have my doubts about him going very far, given that he was somewhat limited and the welterweight division was extremely competitive in those days... A guy like Simon Brown or Mark Breland would have made short work of him if my guess is right.

 

This is when the "instant replay" innovation would have been called for. I believe Starling heard the bell and relaxed, dropped his guard, and Molinares obviously didn't and landed the ko punch, illegal of course. I'm surprised that the two never met again. I'm sure that Starling would have gotten sweet revenge. To answer, no, I don't think the right call was made. Molinares either should have been disqualified or the fight called a "no contest".

 

With the way Molinares could ****in' whack? That's up for speculation. Sparking Starling out like he did was extremely impressive, look at the guys Starling went the distance with over the course of his career.

Breland was very chinny and Brown's wasn't undentable.

 

One of the first things you learn as a fighter is defend yourself at all times. With hindsight (and probably at the time) the punch seemed a foul, but the referee decided otherwise.

Outside of the fight, the commissions do in my opinion have every right to void a fight for a failed drug test etc, but in the ring, right or wrong the referee's decision should always be final.

Molinares should have a WKO against his name in the Starling fight.

 

Fair enough, but Molinares was very unpolished, and took a lot of shots from starling early.. He was well behind on the cards, had virtually no defense, and a face that was really starting to swell up.. Starling was strong, but not much of a puncher.. With Brown and Breland's punching ability along with their technical skills, I think Molinares would have gotten in trouble early, or certainly taken too much of a beating before things really got rolling. Also, while Starling was more durable than most, keep in mind that he was caught with that shot while being more or less unprepared.. He was basically anticipating the end of the round. I don't know if we can accurately assess Molinares's power based on this one incident..

 

he threw that punch just as the bell rang it was after the bell but what a punch it was perfect.

Im not sure how well the sound dubbing is as the commentaters say he threw it a second after the bell

Looking at Starling he looks like he has relaxed but actually goes to throw a punch. The punch didnt have much on it so he might have been hurt already or it might have been a push to push him away from him.

A very tricky call.

If i was the ref i would panic i wouldnt have a clue what to do. But thats boxing always unpredicatable. I think i would have given Starling time to recover then carry on the fight

 

Molinares should have been disqualified on the spot and the belt should have stayed with Starling.