Omar Figueroa (28-0-1, 19 KOs) defeated John Molina (30-8, 24 KOs) via unanimous decision in the co-main event Saturday night, February 16, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California.
The wide scorecards read 99-91, 98-92, 97-93 in favor of Figueroa to remain undefeated. The fight was much closer than the scorecards reflected.
Neither fighter did enough to stand out and it’s not a stretch to say that this fight didn’t meet the expectations that most had for a variety of factors.
Figueroa has an awkward style that is hard for his opponents to figure out. This showed as Molina couldn’t get any offensive rhythm going against Figueroa.
Molina never figured out how to attack Figueroa, or defend the unorthodox switching style. It was an awkward fight for most of the rounds, there were spurts of great action, trading blows, just not in bunches.
Figueroa, nor Molina, executed their game plan to a T. This was expected to be a phone booth style fight with heavy blows being landed by each fighter.
Figueroa wanted to stop Molina, whether it came via KO or TKO. The straight right hand landed throughout the fight and buckled Molina a handful of times, but no knockdown or knockout came.
Molina relied on his powerful right hand to win him the fight, he landed quite a few right hands that did no damage to Figueroa.
Figueroa’s chin, volume and underrated defense won this fight. He took every big right hand Molina landed with no problem, smiling most of the time.
Molina’s lack of defense and lack of combination punching ultimately lost him this bout. His performance wasn’t sharp, he didn’t execute his boxing ability. Molina wanted to stick on the outside, box, and land his powerful right hand.
Figueroa didn’t apply his relentless pressure as he does in every single fight. Nor did his high punch volume show up against Molina.
Nonetheless, Omar Figueroa came out with a victory. He is now one step closer to the top of the Super Lightweight rankings, and another title shot.
