By Rick Reeno
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that IBF junior middleweight champion Carlos Molina will be unable to defend his title on Saturday night against undefeated Jermall Charlo as part of the Saul Alvarez-Alfredo Angulo Showtime Pay-Per-View.
Molina was arrested in Las Vegas on Tuesday in connection to a pair of warrants out of the state of Wisconsin. Molina is facing a warrant from January 2007 by one jurisdiction in Wisconsin with failing to register as a sex offender, and also has an open warrant from another jurisdiction dating back to 2005 on a charge of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
In 2002, Molina pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree sexual assault of a minor.
Molina's lawyer, Leon Margules, was able to clear up the issues with the old warrants, but then an entirely new problem came up. Molina, who was born in Mexico, was denied the ability to leave the Clark County Detention Center and placed on an immigration hold by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].
According to some sources, there is an issue as to whether or not Molina is a legal resident of the United States. Molina's promoter, Luis DeCubas Sr., expected him to be released on Thursday night, but then ICE placed another immigration hold on the boxer and he remained in custody as of Friday morning.
With the weigh-in only a few short hours away, the fight was called off.
As BoxingScene.ocm reported on Thursday, Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Richard Schaefer, already has a contingency plan in place. He will elevate the lightweight bout between Ricardo Alvarez and Sergio Thompson to the pay-per-view card.
Alvarez, the older brother of Canelo, was originally scheduled to face WBC champion Omar Figueroa, who last week withdrew with a hand injury.
