By: William Holmes
Tonight’s ShoBox card was broadcast from the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. ShoBox usually features upcoming prospects facing off against each other, but tonight featured two bouts with highly touted prospects facing off against tough and rugged veterans.
Mayweather Promotions and Goosen Tutor Promotions put on tonight’s card.
The first bout of the night was between Badou Jack (14-0) and Philadelphia native Farah Ennis (21-1) in the super middleweight division.
Badou Jack had a five-inch read advantage and he made good use of it during tonight’s fight. Ennis had a solid first round, as his jab was landing and moving the head of his opponent, but Jack ended the first round strong with a hard straight right hand. This round was a push and could have gone to Ennis, but it was the only round that could have gone to him.
Jack backed Ennis up with his jab throughout the entire fight and Ennis was far too passive and afraid to let his hands go. Jack landed a solid combination to the body in the fourth round that god Ennis’ attention and Ennis responded with some wild and inaccurate punches as the round ended.
Ennis’ jab was doing damage when he threw it and landed, but he simply did not let his hands go. Before the start of the ninth round, Ennis’ corner could be heard yelling at him to go for the knockout, saying that they only gave him one round so far.
At least Ennis’ corner was honest with him.
Showtime was having technical difficulties during the last round of the fight and they had to show previews for upcoming shows, but it was obvious not much action was missed.
Badou Jack did just enough to win every round, but he was not overly impressive and his performance did not leave this writer anticipating his next appearance on television. The final scores were 100-90, 98-92, and 98-92 for Badou Jack.
The main event of the night was between Mickey Bey (18-0) and John Molina (25-3) in the lightweight division.
On paper they were close to the same age, same reach, and same height, but inside the ring Molina looked like the bigger man.
It was obvious in the opening round that Bey had a significant speed advantage on Molina and was easily avoiding his punches. His combinations helped him clearly win the first two rounds, but Molina began to turn things around in the third round.
Molina finally landed a left hook and followed it up with a right hand in the third round that got both Bey’s and the crowd’s attention. Molina started to press the action more in the fourth round and was successful.
Bey showed a willingness to exchange, which later showed to be a bad decision. Bey was clearly the better boxer, but Molina is a brawler and he was able to goad Bey into exchanging.
The middle rounds were close, but Molina was taking Bey’s best shots and continued to move forward. Bey had a solid ninth round, and the action inside the ring was exciting.
Bey tried his best to put Molina away but Molina showed an iron chin. The end came in the tenth round when a left hook by Molina left Bey knocked out on his feet. Molina began throwing hooks like a wild man and was landing a lot of hard clean shots.
The referee finally stopped the fight at 2:01 of the tenth round, giving John Molina a thrilling victory and making himself relevant in the lightweight division again.
