Molitor Struggles, Barely Beats Ruiz Over Twelve
By Mark Vester
Former IBF super bantamweight champion Steve Molitor (29-1, 11KOs) still needs a lot of work. The Canadian star is trying to rebuild his career after being crushed in four rounds last November by Celestino Caballero during their unification bout. Prior to the loss, Molitor was being groomed as a major star and American promoters like Top Rank were expressing interest in promoting him in the United States.
Molitor returned to the scene of the Caballero crime, Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada, but he struggled, had problems and appeared gun shy in certain rounds. He still managed to pull out a split-decision win over Heriberto Ruiz (41-8-2, 23KOs) of Mexico. The two fighters suffered cuts during the bout but nothing serious on either end.
The scores were 116-112, 116-112 for Molitor and 116-112 for Ruiz - although the scores were closer than any of the three cards would indicate. With the win, Molitor becomes the number-two ranked contender under the IBF. If Molitor's promoter was smart, he would feed him a few soft touch opponents to see where his fighter's head and skills are at.
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