Boxing Perspective: Steve Molitor

Steve Molitor, the IBF Super Bantamweight Champion, is looking towards a defining moment in his career. The undefeated boxer is fresh from winning his most recent bout, against Ceferino Dario Labarda. According to his handlers Orion Management, a victory would secure Molitor a title unification fight against Celestino Caballero. So far, no news about any upcoming fight. Instead, there is a lot of speculation about Molitor’s past choices and what this means for his future.

The Canadian Kid, as Molitor is known, has made headlines over the past few months, but not because of his boxing accomplishments. Molitor got into a public argument with his manager, Allan Tremblay, reportedly because of his recent fight purses.

The public fight is now resolved, but there were casualties. There is a strain now between Orion Management and Steve Molitor, and his trainer for the past seven bouts, Chris Johnson, has been replaced. Molitor is now being trained by Stephane Larouche, the man who is responsible for Lucian Bute and Adrian Dianocu. Will this be a good match for Molitor? Only time will tell.

Another issue that has been brought up in the Canadian press, is the quality of Molitor’s opponents and his unwillingness to fight outside of Canada since he won the IBF title. His opponents have been carefully selected by his management team to make Molitor shine in his title defenses.

The list goes as follows: Labarda, Takalani Ndlovu, Ricardo Castillo and Fernando Beltran Jr have been his last four opponents. These fighters have little experience fighting real contenders and have rarely fought outside their home countries.

Why hasn’t a fight against a more aggressive and experienced opponent been arranged for Molitor? It would benefit him because if you fight against better fighters, you become a better fighter and real contenders will want to fight you.

The other issue is that Tremblay has Molitor very protected and playing the home card at his title defenses. The Canadian Kid should be traveling to where the real competition awaits. There is no growth if the only class of opponents you will receive are just going to inflate your ego. If Caballero will not come to Canada, go and fight him in the U.S.

It will be interesting to see how the Molitor saga unravels in the next few months and who his next opponent will be. I am of the opinion however, that we will more likely see Molitor fight someone like Olivier Lontchi than a real contender like Caballero or Juan Manuel Lopez.

I hope that will not be the case.