By Alexey Sukachev
At the Rainton Meadows Arena in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, a grueling fight saw "The Canadian Kid" Steve Molitor (33-1, 12 KOs) overcome a great share of early adversity, dug deep and finally found his former self in an extremely hard-fought majority decision over British master and IBF #13 super bantamweight Jason Booth (35-6, 15 KOs) to retain his IBF 122lb title for the first time.
Molitor, still struggling to get back on track after a crushing defeat to "Pelenchin" Caballero in fall 2008 and a questionable decision against Heriberto Ruiz, was obviously on the wrong edge of the judges' scorescards in the first three rounds. Former flyweight, syper flyweight, bantamweight and super bantamweight multi-minor titlist Booth, though a smaller fighter, used his bulldog presevance and aggressiveness to deliver some heat to the rusty Canadian. He was quicker on his way in and avoided punishment from slower Molitor on the way out.
Round four saw a beginning of turnaround as Molitor finally found his range and caught his timing to start landing his punches. Molitor concentrated on the left side of Booth's body connecting with hard liver punches. The Brit did his share of punishment by sneaky attacks and hard combinations to make the fifth stanza even but rounds six to eight were all in Canadian's favour who grew bigger down the stretch.
Round nine saw a slight comeback from Booth but Molitor dug to his body and rocked him several times with liver shots to take the tenth and the eleventh. Both fighters tried to deliver what was left in their tanks in the fatal twelve with the Canadain being just a notch better. Finally, scores were 116-113 (British judge), 116-112 (Canadian judge) and 114-114 (French judges) - in favour of Steve Molitor... and still... IBF super bantamweight champion of the world. BoxingScene had it 116-114 with two rounds even. Referee was Dave Parris.
Both IBF #5 featherweight Martin Lindsay (17-0, 6 KOs) and his Belarussian foe Yauhen Kruhlik (now 10-13-2, 2 KOs) showed their strengths in a pretty heated non-title six-rounder. Lindsay, British 126lb champion, was his usual self showing a fascinating ring generalship and attacking his rival increasingly from various angles but lacked significant power in his punches. Kruhlik, on the other hand, presented an ultra sturdy chin plus his famous durability to withstand Lindsay's pressure. The British fighter was successful in landing some hard body shots and also rocked the Belarussian during the last round to score a points victory: 59-55 (with the sole judge being also a referee). BoxingScene saw it 60-55 - also for the Brit.
