By Ian S Palmer
The Bubble at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is the site of this Saturday, September 19th’s bout between former world champion Jose Pedraza of Puerto Rico and Javier Molina of Norwalk, California. The 10-round bout can be seen live in America on ESPN+. Pedraza last fought in July when he beat Mikel LesPierre via a 10-round unanimous decision. Molina’s last outing was in February when he beat Amir Ahmed Imam by an eight-round unanimous nod.
Pedraza’s win over LesPierre was much needed as he was beaten by Jose Zepeda via a 10-round unanimous decision in his last outing in September 2019 for the vacant WBC USNBC Junior Welterweight Title. The 31-year-old Pedraza is a former IBF Super Featherweight Champion who won the vacant belt in June of 2015 when he beat Andrey Klimov by unanimous decision. He defended the crown twice by beating Edner Cherry and Stephen Smith by split and unanimous decisions respectively.
Pedraza then lost his crown in his third defence when Gervonta Davis stopped him in the seventh round in January of 2017. After that he beat Jose Luis Rodriguez, Antonio Moran and Raymundo Beltran by unanimous decisions. He then ran into Vasyl Lomachenko in December, 2018, was dropped twice in the 11th round and lost a unanimous decision in a shot at the WBO and WBA World Lightweight Belts. After that he stopped Antonio Lozada Torres in the ninth round, lost to Zepeda and beat LesPierre.
The former champ climbs through the ropes with a record of 27-3 with 13 Kos. He’s 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 70.5 inches and prefers to fight from the outside if possible. Pedraza turned pro in 2011 and isn’t much of a banger as his knockout ratio is 43.3 per cent, but his power shouldn’t be underestimated. He’s boxed 220 rounds and also owns a unanimous decision over Alberto Garza in 2014 and a seventh-round TKO over Sergio Reyes a year earlier.
Pedraza had a fine, extensive amateur career and represented Puerto Rico at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing where he lost in the second round. Since turning pro he’s also won the WBC Youth World, USBA, and IBO World Super Featherweight Titles to go along with his WBO Latino Lightweight Crown.
Molina is a 30-year-old who carries a record of 22-2 with 9 Kos. He turned pro in 2009 and has 124 rounds of experience under his belt. He enjoyed a fine amateur career and won the Junior Welterweight National Championships 2007 at 141 lbs when he was 17. He’s the twin brother of Oscar Molina and younger brother of Carlos Molina. Molina also won a bronze medal at the Cadet World Championships in 2006 as a lightweight and a national crown at the Junior Olympic International Invitational in 2006.
He also fought at the 2007 World Championships and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
As a pro, Molina was beaten by Artemio Reyes by an eight-round unanimous decision in 2011 and dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Jamal James in 2016. Meanwhile, his biggest wins have come against the likes of Jorge Pimentel, Jessie Roman, Manuel Mendez and Horoki Okada. Molina hasn’t got too much in the way of power as his current knockout ratio stands at 37.5 per cent. He’s 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 68-inch reach so has a two-inch height advantage on Pedraza but is 2.5-inches short in the reach department.
Prediction…
Molina has plenty of skill but hasn’t faced any top-quality foes as a pro. Pedraza needs to use his reach to keep him at bay and punish him when he’s in range. Pedraza has more experience against better opponents and this should be the difference. Molina will put up a good fight but I’m expecting Pedraza to have his hand raised.
