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Canada’s top fighter was in action last night as Steve Molitor retained his IBF Super Bantam crown with an impressive ninth round stoppage of IBO titlist Takalani Ndlovu in front of 5,000 fans at Casino Rama in Orilla, Canada.
Ndlovu made the trip from his native South Africa full of world title ambitions but with a straight ahead and predictable attacking style, proved unable to get a grip on the fluid, moving southpaw approach of Molitor.
The champion constantly shifted angles as Ndlovu came straight in, catching the South African with a variety of counters but focused largely on the body with his own offense.
Molitor’s plan began to pay dividends by the midway point of the bout as Ndlovu had clearly lost the wind from his sails, tired from chasing the champion and absorbing many spirit sapping body shots.
By the ninth, Ndlovu began to crack under the accumulation of punishment dished out by the champion and was canvassed when Molitor connected with a full blooded power left hand that the challenger never saw coming.
Ndlovu beat the count but Molitor wasn’t about to let the IBO titlist off the hook and floored the African import twice more. The big hearted Ndlovu was nearly out on his feet yet refused to stay down but when Canadian unleashed a furious two handed assault on his rival, referee Hubert Earl had no choice but to step in and halt the action at 1:42 of the ninth round.
Molitor retains the IBF title for the first time, improving to 24-0 (10), and should be on a collision course with one of the other major champions. Ndlovu drops to 27-4 (17) and must improve his approach if he is to have a chance of returning to the top level.
On the undercard, seasoned Mexican boxer Eduardo Garcia, 18-5 (8), failed in his bid to unseat WBA Super Flyweight Champion Nobuo Nashiro in December of last year but was able to hand Quebecois prospect Sebastien Gauthier, 11-1 (9), a first loss via a fourth round stoppage to annex the vacant IBF International Bantamweight title.
