By Amilcar Barnett: The last time Steve Molitor walked into the ring at the Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario, Canada was last November. On that night, he entered the ring as the undefeated IBF 122 pound champion, but left the ring without his title, having sustained a four round beating at the hands of WBA 122 pound titlist, Panamanian, Celestino Caballero. In his first fight since that loss, and in front of a crowd of 5,400 at Casino Rama, Molitor (29-1, 11 KO), Molitor defeated Mexico’s Heriberto Ruiz (41-8-2, 8 KO) over 12 closely contested rounds.
Judges Kelly Zolnierczyk and Benoit Roussel scored the fight 116-112 for Molitor, while dissenting judge Harry Davis scored the fight 116-112 in favour of Ruiz.
The contest started slowly with the crowd booing to get the fighters to throw more punches. As the pace of the fight increased, and as Ruiz committed more by moving forward, Molitor moved and maintained his distance while throwing combinations.
Molitor’s punch output increased in the fourth round, while he continued to stick and move until Ruiz would trap him on the ropes before the end of the round.
Molitor landed the best shot of the night, a quick short overhand left, in the fifth round, a session in which the two boxers came out agressively. The Canadian ended the round with a straight left hand flush on Ruiz’s chin. Ruiz responded by grabbing and twisting Molitor’s arm back, causing Molitor’s trainer Billy Martin to protest to the referee.
As the pace picked up further in the sixth round, so did the roughhousing. While both men were in a clinch, Molitor swung his elbow straight into Ruiz’s chin, this time causing Ruiz to protest.
A headbut in the seventh caused a cut on Molitor’s forehead and Ruiz tried to take advantage, throwing wild punches that mostly missed.
Ruiz continued to press forward in rounds eight and nine as Molitor boxed off the back foot with blood covering the left side of his face.
The tenth was a rather uneventful round until the end when both men traded shots up close. Molitor took the eleventh landing four straight punches that put Ruiz’s back on the ropes, but Ruiz came back in the 12th landing hard shots to the body and forced Molitor to retreat into survival mode en route to the split decision win.
With the win, Molitor will occupy the vacant number two spot for the IBF crown in a stacked division that includes top fighters from around the world, including Rafael Marquez (Mexico), Juan Manuel Lopez (Puerto Rico), Toshiaki Nishioka (Japan), Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (Thiland), and Jeffrey Mathebula (South Africa).
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