By Rick Reeno
Sergio Diaz, the manager of lightweight contender John Molina (21-1, 17KOs), reached out to BoxingScene.com to respond to an earlier story, where unbeaten Sharif "The Lion" Bogere (19-0, 12KOs), and his manager Jimmy Alex, were claiming that Diaz's boxer was afraid to sign a contract for a proposed ShoBox main event on May 13. Bogere, handled by Golden Boy Promotions, is on board with the fight. He was told by his promoter that a bout agreement was never sent back by Molina.
"I am ready for this fight. He was supposed to sign the contract, but now I hear that he's backing out of the fight. I don't know what's going on," Bogere told BoxingScene.com. "Maybe he's scared of fighting. Nobody can handle the lion. The lion smells the blood and feeds himself."
According to Diaz, his side had never agreed to the fight. Diaz and Molina are waiting for the title situation to be resolved with the WBO. There is a strong chance the WBO will sanction Robert Guerrero vs. Michael Katsidis, which is set for April 9, for the vacant interim-title. With current champion Juan Manuel Marquez likely moving up in weight, the Guerrero-Katsidis winner could become the full champion, and then Molina, who is ranked at number two, would become the mandatory.
"There was some talk about the fight, but we never agreed to it. John is looking for bigger things right now. He's ranked at number two in the WBO and he's in position for the winner of Michael Katsidis and Robert Guerrero. Bogere doesn't have a high ranking with any of the organizations and he just wants John's ranking. The fight doesn't make sense right now. Molina wants the big fights. And right now we're looking to get the winner of Guerrero-Katsidis," Diaz said.
