Fight Review: Morales v Garcia/Kirkland v Molina

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Ringside by Felipe Leon
“He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.” – Sun Tzu, Art of War
If there is a man in the last twenty years who would be more than qualified to write boxing’s version of Sun Tzu’s Art of War, it would be Tijuana’s Erik “Terrible” Morales. The fighter from the tough neighborhood of the Zona Norte, has proven with superb skill, courage and bravado what a true warrior is and in a nineteen year pro career has won the hearts of his beloved Mexico’s fight fans as well thousands around the world.
On Saturday night, the thirty-five year old Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) walked out of the ring in his last hurrah, at least in the United States, on tired legs but his head held high as a little less than six thousand fans witnessed Philadelphia’s Danny “Swift” Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs) win the WBC light welterweight title via a unanimous decision at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas.

Kirkland Gets Win in Controversial Ending
James “Mandigo Warrior” Kirkland (31-1, 27KOs) remained undefeated after struggling with renown spoiler Carlos “King” Molina (19-5-2, 6KOs) of Chicago, Illinois, by way of the Mexican state of Michoacán, after a confusion at the end of the tenth round of a scheduled twelve caused Molina to get disqualified by referee Jon Schorle in a WBC Continental Americas super welterweight title fight.
From early on Molina began to attack the body of the southpaw Kirkland with a jabs to the mid section of the Texan. Kirkland looked sluggish and slow even before the body attack should have bore such fruit. Molina was able to couple his body work with hooks to the head from both fists as Kirkland struggled set his own offense while he concentrated in defending himself against Molina’s steady pressure.
Molina’s clinching, which by the end of the contest got to the point of being excessive, began early but really took effect in third as he would tie up the bulkier Kirkland and easily push him to the ropes. Kirkland had difficulty putting punches together and instead looked to score heavy punches one at a time. Kirkland’s first real dominating round was the fourth as he welcomed Molina with a left upper cut to start and began to put his punches together. Molina was still having success, especially with a straight lead right to the body followed by a left hook to the top that landed more than not in this round as well as in the previous three.
Kirkland began to apply the pressure even most of his attack came from arm punches. The crafty Molina was still able to set traps that Kirkland would walk right into especially a lead right that would catch Kirkland flush to the face more than once. With the crowd behind him with chants of “Molina, Molina”, Carlos kept fighting as Kirkland, and in the opinion of many referee Jon Schorle, made it easier for him to score punches and then clinch to avoid a counter attack. Kirkland showed his inexperience or frustration in the eight as he bent at the waist to avoid Molina’s punches but when he lifted his head, he did not raise his guard and Molina landed a series of power punches to the face that forced Kirkland to take a step back.
As Molina began to slow down, Kirkland ramped it up in the ninth and tenth rounds and began to really put punches together in classic Kirkland style. A quick lead left became Kirkland’s weapon of choice as he began to land it often and more effectively. Kirkland got inside and scored with upper cuts and short hooks from either fist. Molina’s clinches intensified and at the end of the round as Kirkland was scoring with a heavy assault, Molina went down to the canvas almost at the same time the bell signaling the end of the heat rang. Molina quickly sprang to his feet to indicate he was not hurt.
As referee Jon Schorle began to administer the count, a member of Molina’s corner tried to make his way through the ropes before being signaled by Schorle to make his way out. After Schorle reached the count of eight and made sure Molina was fit to continue, he made his way to the commission and asked for a ruling. He promptly walked over to Molina and waived the contest over, awarding the win to Kirkland by disqualification while Molina and his team protested.
At the time of the disqualification, Carlos Molina was up on two cards. Judge Dave Moretti had it 88-83 while David Sutherland saw it 87-84, both for Molina, while notorious judge Gale Van Hoy inexplicably scored it 86-85 for Kirkland. Fightnews at the time of the stoppage had it 87-84 for Molina.