“We’re not even talking about that today boys,” Molitor said sternly in response to a reporter who had asked about a potential title unification match planned for this winter. “That question gets you out the door.”
Molitor (27-0, including 10 knockouts) said he's focused solely on Friday's match, his fifth title defence, against Argentina's Ceferino Labarda (18-0, seven knockouts).
Should Molitor win the fight, his promoter, Orion Sports, has an agreement in place for him to meet World Boxing Association champ Celestino Caballero at the casino in November. That match will be televised on Showtime network, one of the two major boxing broadcasters in the world.
With a high-profile match like that on the horizon, Molitor and his new trainer, Stephane Larouche, were careful they didn’t lose sight of the task at hand when they started training camp five weeks ago in Larouche’s home base of Montreal.
“Steve came to Montreal with people (talking about) Caballero, and I got confused. I said, ‘Who’s who now? Who’s the next opponent?’" joked Larouche. “I don’t work two fights at the same time. I don’t even want to hear about Caballero. We have one fight to go, and if we lose this one there’s no other fights. On Saturday morning we can start talking about Caballero.
“We found two fights of (Labarda on DVD). We watched him carefully,” continued Larouche. “He’s a good puncher, and he’s got a good amateur background.”
“Anybody with two hands and arms can give you trouble,” said Molitor of Friday’s opponent, a bronze medalist at the 1999 Pan American Games and 2000 Olympian, “so we gotta go in there, stick to our game plan, and take care of business.
“This guy has nothing to lose and everything to gain, so he’s gong to give it everything he has. So it’s a very dangerous fight.”
Labarda’s trainer, Carlos Tello, said through a translator that his fighter is in "great shape," psychologically and physically.
“I’m well-prepared,” agreed Labarda. “Everywhere I go I put on a good show. I’m coming to win, and I hope everything happens right on Friday.”
The press conference started with a curious quote from Tello that received a few chuckles from the press in attendance; it was likely a mistranslation via interpreter Rey Morales.
“We have with Ceferino,” said Tello through Morales, “the great illusion that we can actually win the championship.”
Molitor made sure not to let the comment slide when he took his turn at the podium.
“I appreciate (Labarda) coming down here,” he said with a smile. “But like his trainer said, they have an illusion of winning on Friday, and come Friday, I’ll say that’s exactly what it’s going to be.”
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and Casino Rama.
Molitor’s bout will be shown live on TSN, Friday at 10:30 pm.
onlinenews@mississauga.net
