Preview: Pedraza and Molina meet in key 140-pound matchup

This Saturday streaming live on ESPN+ (7:30 pm ET), Jose Pedraza and Javier Molina headline in something of a crossroads-style matchup at 140 pounds on the next edition of Top Rank Boxing.

The 31-year-old Pedraza (27-3, 13 KO) has been one of the standout fighters from Puerto Rico in recent years, which is a combination of him being a good fighter and, frankly, Puerto Rico having some struggles producing world title-caliber fighters in the last decade or so. Miguel Cotto was the last true headline star from the island, and he hasn’t even fought since 2017, and hasn’t been a major headliner since 2015.

But while you might not think right away that Pedraza’s been a top-level fighter in his career, the facts are that he’s won world titles at 130 and 135, and that’s nothing to sneeze at even in an era of watered-down titles. He claimed the IBF junior lightweight title against Andrey Klimov in 2015, and made two successful defenses before he was overwhelmed by Gervonta “Tank” Davis in a 2017 bout.

Davis projected then, and still does, as a possible pound-for-pound type of talent, so it certainly wasn’t a loss that brought any shame to Pedraza, who would go on to take the WBO lightweight title from Ray Beltran in 2018, a rousing performance seen then as something of a minor upset, which maybe it shouldn’t have been.

Pedraza then went right out and chased real glory, meeting Vasiliy Lomachenko four months later in a 135-pound unification fight. Lomachenko won a clear decision, but did praise Pedraza for being tough and tricky.

In 2019, Pedraza made the move up to 140 pounds, and when fighters start getting into going two classes over their first serious division, you always have questions to be answered. In his debut, the answers weren’t looking good, as he was beaten via decision by Jose Zepeda. Pedraza kept himself in the fight for the most part, but was defeated fairly and cleanly by a contender, casting some doubt as to his status as a 140-pound fighter.

A win in July over Mikkel LesPierre got Pedraza back in the win column, but LesPierre has now had exactly two fights of real substance in his career, and he was routed in both of them.

Saturday’s fight with Javier Molina should give us more of an idea what Pedraza might be able to achieve at 140 — or if he might simply be truly limited at this weight.

The 30-year-old Molina turned pro in 2009, following a good amateur career where he won the U.S. National Championships in 2007 and competed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where he was routed in his opening round fight. That bout caused some discussion after, as the then-18-year-old Molina fought with “a small hole (in his) lung, which allowed air to seep out beneath the skin,” and there was question of whether he should have been allowed in the ring at all on that night.

But it wasn’t a career- or life-threatening thing, either, and he signed with Goossen Tutor to go pro, racking up a record of 9-0 (4 KO) before an upset loss to Artemio Reyes on a ShoBox card in 2011. There was a lot of question about Molina’s upside at that point. As a pro to date, he hadn’t looked exceptional or anything, and he’d had a series of hand injuries that were already a bit of a red flag.

Molina bounced back with eight straight wins before a 2016 loss to Jamal James on a PBC card, where James was able to keep Molina at bay and neutralize pretty much all of his offensive efforts.

After that defeat, Molina decided to drop from welterweight down to 140 pounds, and so far it appears to have been a very good idea. Since the move down, Molina has gone 5-0 with wins over some decent veterans; in his last two, we’ve seen him stop Hiroki Okada in the first round, which is not generally Molina’s style, and out-point former prospect and world title challenger Amir Imam over eight rounds.

Much like last weekend’s Kavaliauskas-Zewski and Marriaga-Gonzalez matchups, Pedraza-Molina may not instantly excite you as a meaningful fight, but for the guys involved, it really is. For Molina, this is a chance to finally, truly break into contention after 11 years as a pro and some real disappointments and setbacks. For Pedraza, he gets a chance to derail Molina’s momentum and carve out his own spot as a possible real contender at 140 pounds, despite the initial iffy showing at the weight. It’s a real test for both guys, and hugely important for their careers at the moment.

How to Watch Pedraza vs Molina

Date: Saturday, Sept. 19 | Start Time: 7:30 pm ET
Location: The Bubble, Las Vegas, NV
Stream: ESPN+ (Sign Up Here)

Undercard

Powerful heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba will make his Top Rank debut after signing with the company in August, a potential real get for the promotional company. The 26-year-old Ajagba (13-0, 11 KO) had been fighting with PBC and is considered one of the better heavyweight prospects in the sport, and one of the closer to being a real contender.

Born in Nigeria, Ajagba took up boxing at age 17, and it’s something he seems cut out for, which not all good athletes can say when they try to make the transition. He did well as an amateur, all things considered, qualifying for the 2016 Olympics, where he lost to two-time bronze medalist Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinal round.

On Saturday, he’ll be making what should be a showcase debut for Top Rank, taking on 33-year-old Jonathan Rice (13-5-1, 9 KO). Seven of Rice’s 13 wins have come in Tijuana, and not to insult the good name of Tijuana, but boxing fans generally know what that means in terms of record-padding in the sweet science these days. In his last fight on Mar. 7, he was stopped in 10 by Demsey McKean, the unbeaten 29-year-old Aussie, but he did nick a couple of rounds along the way in that one.

Ajagba, who also last fought on Mar. 7 in a win over Razvan Cojanu, hasn’t always been flawless — Ali Eren Demirezen took him 10 competitive rounds in July 2019, and Iago Kiladze dropped him in a Dec. 2019 matchup, but he’s shown a good ability to deal with the level of adversity that has come his way thus far. He should be expected to truck Rice, quite frankly.

We’ll also see two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez in action. The 26-year-old featherweight prospect’s pro debut in Aug. 2019 attracted a lot of attention, and should have, he’s one of the best amateurs of the last decade, arguably only really behind Vasiliy Lomachenko, and he’s still pretty young, too.

But disaster struck in that debut outing, and he wound up losing — and deserving to lose — a four-round decision to Adan Gonzales. He’s bounced back with four straight wins since then, including a six-round decision in a rematch with Gonzales on July 2.

At 4-1 (3 KO), Ramirez still has a ton of potential in the pro boxing world. Whether he meets it or not is up in the air; certainly, big-time prospects with top-flight pedigrees have floundered in the pro game before. And not to generalize, but he’d hardly be the first Cuban in recent memory to come up well short of expectations (Yan Barthelemy and Odlanier Solis spring to mind immediately).

On paper, he’s facing a bit of a step up in Felix Caraballo (13-2-2, 9 KO), a 33-year-old Puerto Rican who faced Shakur Stevenson on June 9, when boxing returned to TV in the United States. Caraballo lost every second of that fight before a sixth round stoppage, but he’s been in with some good pros in his six-year career. If Ramirez can look sharp against him, it’ll be easier to keep thinking of him as still a possible star and world title guy in the relatively near future.