By Jake Donovan

Two of the more talented prospects in the Goossen Tutor stable put their undefeated records on the line Saturday night against the stiffest tests of their young careers. One passed with flying colors, while the other wound up in the advanced course of the school of hard knocks.

Former title challenger Martin Honorio was brilliant in stripping John Molina Jr. of the new penny shine that had surrounded his young career. The veteran effectively employed lateral movement and imposing his will throughout their ten-round main event at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA.

Rico Ramos scored the biggest win of his young career in the evening’s co-feature, getting by Alejandro Perez in an all-action clash of super bantamweight prospects.

Both bouts aired live on Showtime’s “Shobox: The New Generation” prospect-based series.

Things just never got untracked for Molina, who fought as if he supported the belief that Honorio was just the latest in a string of opponents forced to move up in weight. The freakishly tall lightweight (5’10 ½”) was the naturally bigger of the two, and looked to impose his will from the opening bell.

It wasn’t the wisest of strategies, as Honorio was more than willing to engage. Molina was effective when working behind the jab, but didn’t do it often enough, particularly towards the end of the round when Honorio was able to walk inside and land to Molina’s body.

Head trainer Joe Goossen did his best to keep Molina poised in between rounds, but his between-rounds strategy was completely ignored by the lanky Californian in the second.

Molina spent much of the round plodding forward, only sporadically offering his jab while struggling to keep up with his wily veteran opponent. Honorio was expected to test the heart of his younger and less experienced foe.

What very few anticipated was the Mexican successfully outboxing Molina, which proved to be the case in the second and third round. Molina remained on the hunt, but his moments of success were few and far between as Honorio continued to land with his jab and chopping right hand.

Instructions in Molina’s corner to sit down on his punches and throw both hands led to slightly better results in the fourth round. For the first time in the fight, Molina was able to dial in with his left hook, including a pair of head shots towards the end of a round that was relatively close but by far his best of the fight.

Momentum wouldn’t carry over in the fifth, as Honorio went back on the move to regain control. For two minutes and 50 seconds he boxed his younger foe silly. A brief mental lapse down the stretch caused Honorio to drop his guard long enough to get caught with and briefly staggered by a right hand upstairs.

Honorio’s corner immediately took control in between rounds, insisting he was fighting a “perfect fight” and needed to return to what was working best. Like the veteran that he is, Honorio obliged, dominating the sixth and seventh rounds as Molina entered uncharted territory, as well as the point of no return on any sensible scorecard.

Still, a tender loving care approach was taken by Goossen in between rounds, softly encouraging his fighter to punch his way back into the fight, although it was obvious that a knockout was in desperate order. Honorio wasn’t anywhere nearly as nurturing, applying heavy pressure in the eighth as Molina had virtually no answers.

There were no signs of Honorio slowing down in the stretch run of the fight, employing beautiful lateral movement in the ninth as Molina appeared to be stuck in the mud in comparison. An occasional right hand would connect for Molina, but it was the same issue as was the case throughout the fight – one punch at a time and no sense of urgency.

A fire was finally lit in the final round, with Molina fighting like a guy who needed a knockout to win the fight. Honorio was instructed to fight to avoid getting caught with anything stupid, but his fighting heart refused to allow the Mexican to back down.

The end result was brilliant two-way action in the final round, perhaps Molina’s best frame of the fight. However it was far too little and way too late, as he only made the fight one round closer on what was rightfully lopsided scorecards.

The official scores of 99-91 and 98-92 (2x) killed any threat of drama ensuing in the end, with Honorio scoring a huge upset to win his third straight. The Mexican veteran improves overall to 27-4-1 (14KO), despite being forced outside of his comfort zone in fighting at the lightweight limit for just the third time in his career.
It was a welcome return to Showtime for Honorio, whose last appearance on the network saw him get stretched by then-featherweight champion Robert Guerrero in less than a minute just over two years ago. The upset win is the latest in a string of spoilers for the 29-year old, including impressive past showings against Steven Luevano and Rogers Mtagwa.

For Molina, it’s a far different tale. The 26-year old loses for the first time as a professional, falling to 18-1 (14KO). With less than four years in service and a limited amateur career before that, it’s safe to say he will be placed on the very slow road to recovery.

A highly anticipated co-feature battle between Rico “Suavecito” Ramos and Alejandro Perez lived up to its billing in what served as a brilliant and furiously-paced shootout. In the end, it was Ramos’ skill over Perez’ experience and aggression, boxing and banging his way to a well-deserved unanimous decision.

Ramos came in with the glossier record, but Perez faced the much better competition to date. The level in class was evident in the opening round. Perez immediately took control, landing repeatedly with his left hook, while Ramos struggled to find his rhythm or slow down his former sparring partner.

Then came round two, at which point Ramos took over and never looked back.

Perez remained the aggressor, but Ramos was far more successful in finding his range. Using every inch of the ring, the undefeated Californian was able to minimize Perez’ power game by jabbing and countering from the outside. Perez eventually found his way inside, cornering Ramos and repeatedly throwing left hooks upstairs.

Ramos remained poised under pressure – so poised that he rode out the storm and came back with the most damaging punch of the fight. A counter right hand landed flush on Perez’ chin, sending him crashing to the canvas just before the bell to end the second.

He beat the count, but seemed to have spent most of the third round still feeling the effects. Not helping matters was the fact that Ramos was teeing off, nearly dropping Perez again from a fusillade of left hooks upstairs, only interrupted when he swung and missed, with his momentum spinning him around and causing him to slip to the canvas.

Just when it appeared that Ramos was threatening to pull away, Perez came back strong to force a two-way war in the fourth. Ramos was still effective as a counter puncher, but allowed for Perez to dig deep with a vicious body attack that kept the action in a phone booth.

Both fighters appeared equally as willing to engage in the fifth, but Ramos managed to bring the fight back to his desired pace for much of the second half of the eight-round co-feature. Perez was game, but was plodding forward as he abandoned his jab. Ramos’ own stick had everything to do with controlling the real estate, equally effective in boxing and slugging.

By the end of the sixth round, Perez’ corner showed concern over the fight drastically slipping away, as well as their charge’s sudden decline in punch output. Ramos’ corner seemed to agree with the assessment, insisting fatigue was setting in for their opponent and to pick up the pace and ultimately flush him out.

Ramos was far more effective of the two when it came to listening to their corners, though Perez came out throwing at the start of the seventh. Ramos remained cool, riding out the storm before exploding with a momentum changing left hook upstairs.

With Perez badly in need of a knockout to win, nobody would’ve blamed Ramos had he coasted down the stretch in what was his first time fighting beyond the sixth. Instead, the Los Angeles native put on a show, closing strong, including a flush right hand down the pipe.

Matching official scorecards of 80-71 (2x) wasn’t as suggestive of what took place as was the third card, which read 78-73. Most important was the fact that the right guy won, as Ramos improves to 14-0 (8KO) with his sixth win of 2009.

Perez falls for the second time in four fights, with his record dipping to 14-2-1 (9KO).

The question coming in was how well Ramos could adjust to the massive upgrade in competition. It’s safe to say that he passed his test with flying colors, and approaches contender status at the perfect time, as he should eventually help fill the massive void being left behind by the defection of many of the best super bantamweights in the world.

More performances like this will help ease the pain that has come with losing the likes of Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Juan Manuel Lopez and Celestino Caballero.

The show was presented by Goossen Tutor Promotions.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.