By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com recently spoke to Carlos Moloina who takes on James Kirkland on Saturday in Houston, Texas. The fight is HBO's co-featured bout to the Erik Morales-Danny Garcia main event.
Molina said that he took note of what the relatively unknown (at the time) Nobuhiro Ishida was able to do to Kirkland this past April when he shocked the Texan by knocking him out in the first round of their fight that many boxing pundits called The Upset of the Year.
"You saw in the Ishida fight the first time he went down with the left and the second time with the right. I watched the way he (Ishida) was pivoting and used his reach even though I don't have that reach advantage and also just the way he pressured him," Molina explained. "He was aggressive from the first round. You can see if you can catch him you can hurt him," he continued.
The Chicago, IL based fighter had a breakthrough 2011. He started the year off battling the then undefeated Erislandy Lara to a controversial draw (many felt Molina deserved the nod). He then reeled off wins against Allen Conyers and Kermit Cintron. Molina said that he is exictied to face Kirkland and wants to face the best fighters in the junior middleweight division.
"I was excited (when he learned he would be fighting Kirkland). This is what I want. I want tough fights. I don't want to be handed a WBC belt or any other belt. I want to prove that I am the best at 154 and this (brings) me one step closer to proving that," Molina told BoxingScene.
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com Follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter and tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene's official audio on Tuesdays. The show is hosted by Ernie Gabion, Luis Sandoval and Ryan Burton.
