Steve Molitor (born April 4, 1980) is a Canadian former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2000 to 2012 and held the IBF

super-bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...

title twice between 2006 and 2011.

Career history

Born in

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Molitor began boxing at the age of nine, following in the footsteps of his brother, former commonwealth champion Jeremy Molitor. He won five national titles at 112 pounds. He participated in the Olympic trials but lost a decision to Mike Messel. His final amateur record was 93 wins and eleven losses. Molitor became a professional boxer on May 18, 2000, with an eight-round decision over Julio Luna. In 2002 he scored his most notable win to date when he beat former Olympian Scotty Olson for the Canadian super bantamweight title. Later that year he beat Englishman Nicky Booth for the Commonwealth bantamweight championship. On April 21, 2004, Molitor defeated Hugo Dianzo for the vacated NABA North American title, by a unanimous decision. On November 10, 2006, he knocked out Michael Hunter in the fifth round for the vacant IBF super bantamweight championship title. On July 14, 2007, Molitor dismantled South Africa's Takalani Ndlovu in his first title defense, by scoring a 9th round TKO at

Casino Rama Casino Rama is a large casino, hotel, and entertainment complex located in the town of Rama, Ontario, on the Indian reserve, reserve land of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. It is jointly owned by the Chippewas of Rama First Nation and the Ont ...

Rama, Ontario Chippewas of Rama First Nation, also known as Chippewas of Mnjikaning and Chippewas of Rama Mnjikaning First Nation (, also alternatively Rama Anishinaabek), is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe, Ojibway) First Nations in Canada, First Nation located in t ...

. He also defeated Thailand's Fahsan 3K Battery by unanimous decision on October 27 in his second defense, also at Casino Rama. On January 19, 2008 Molitor defended his title against Ricardo Castillo, with a unanimous decision victory. On April 5, 2008, Molitor again defended his title defeating Fernando Beltran in a twelve round unanimous decision, running his record to 27–0. The fight took place at Casino Rama. In the early summer of 2008, Molitor parted ways with his trainer Chris Johnson and replaced him by Stéphan Larouche. On August 29 Molitor defended his title against the then unbeaten

Ceferino Labarda Ceferino Dario Labarda (born April 6, 1981 in Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza) is a bantamweight boxer from Argentina, who represented his native country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where he lost to Raimkul Malakhbekov of Russia. H ...

. He won the match by TKO. The fight took place at Casino Rama. On November 21, 2008, Molitor lost in his attempt to unify his IBF super bantamweight title with the WBA title against

Celestino Caballero Celestino Caballero (born June 21, 1976) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2014. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) and IBF super bantamweight titles betwee ...

of Panama, the current defending WBA champion. Caballero won the fight in the fourth round by TKO at the Casino Rama,

. Molitor next fought Heriberto Ruiz on June 26, 2009, again at Casino Rama. Molitor won the fight on a split decision. Molitor reunited with Chris Johnson before his 5th round knockout win against Feliciano Ledezma on September 4, 2009 at Casino Rama. On November 21, 2009, Molitor beat Jose Saez in 8 rounds via a unanimous decision. On March 27, 2010, Molitor regained the IBF Junior Featherweight championship, again defeating Takalani Ndlovu in 12 rounds by unanimous decision. On March 26, 2011, in his third bout against Ndlovu, Molitor lost his title via unanimous decision. The judges' scores were 118-110, 116-112, and 118-110. On September 22, 2012, Molitor challenged for the IBF Inter-Continental Super-Bantamweight title in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

against

Carl Frampton Carl Frampton (born 21 February 1987) is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2021. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA (super) super bantamweight title in 2016, and the IBF su ...

in front of Frampton's home town crowd in the city's

Odyssey Arena The Odyssey Complex, consisting of Odyssey Place and the SSE Arena, is a sports, entertainment and science learning complex located within the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The concept of the complex originated in 1992 and wa ...

. Frampton scored an impressive sixth-round TKO and had Molitor on the canvas three times during the one-sided bout.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Chris Johnson's Fighting Alliance
– Molitor's Boxing Club

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molitor, Steve 1980 births Boxers at the 1999 Pan American Games Boxing people from Ontario International Boxing Federation champions Living people Pan American Games competitors for Canada Southpaw boxers Sportspeople from Sarnia Super-bantamweight boxers Canadian male boxers 21st-century Canadian sportsmen