John Molina (26-3, 21 KO’s) was able to come back in the 10th round tonight to pull out a victory by stopping Mickey Bey (18-1-1, 9 KO’s) in the 10th round at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Going into the 10th round, it looked like a certain defeat for Molina, but he was able to connect with a short left hook to the head while in close with Bey.
The punch badly hurt Bey, who attempted to clinch, but Molina wouldn’t let. Molina kept throwing punch after punch until referee Vic Drakulich stepped in and halted the bout at 2:01 of the round.
Bey had been dominating the action in the three prior to the 10th, standing with his back against the ropes and beating Molina at his own game by slugging it out with him. At the start of the 10th, Bey unloaded with a sustained flurry of body and head shots that appeared to hurt Molina. He had Molina just standing there like a punching bag and he could pounded him the entire round if he had kept throwing punch. But it looked like Bey gassed out or got cautious all of a sudden because he backed off and stood dared Molina to come forward.
If Bey wasn’t tired, it was a dumb thing to do because he had Molina right where he wanted him with after nailing him with at least 10 hard shots at the start of the round. Whatever the case, Bey stopped punching and when Molina got in close, he nailed him with a short, powerful left hook that hurt him. From there Molina finished Bey off with some hard combinations that he was unable to block because he was too hurt.
As hurt as Bey was, I don’t think he would have survived the round even if he had taken a knee. He was disoriented afterwards. You could see just by looking at his face that he wouldn’t have recovered from taking a knee. Bey needed the fight to be stopped he was way too hurt to survive.
Bey only has himself to blame for the defeat, as his trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. told him all night long to keep his hands up to block Molina’s left hooks, but round after round you could see that Bey wasn’t following his instructions. Bey kept his hands down throughout the fight, and he took a lot of unnecessary punishment because of that. It’s surprising though because Bey had so much amateur experience before turning pro. He should have learned a long time ago to keep his guard up when fighting or at least keep one arm up.
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In a mismatch on the undercard, super middleweight Badou Jack (15-0, 10 KO’s) defeated a reluctant Farah Ennis (21-3, 12 KO’s) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 100-90, 98-92 and 98-92. Ennis looked like he didn’t want to fight and he just mostly covered up and moved. Jack didn’t show much in the way or power or defense. It’s difficult to picture him being able to beat any of the top 168 pounders in the division.
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Other boxing action on the card:
Luis Arias UD 6 Latif Mundy
Ronald Gavril TKO 5 Jas Phipps
Justin DeLoach UD 4 Kelvin Medley
