MCALLEN – Valley fight fans have been anxiously awaiting the return of Lyford’s Eric Molina (19-2, 14 KO’s) to the squared circle and he definitely gave them something to cheer for as he scored a six-round unanimous decision victory over Andrew Greeley (14-40, 8 KO’s) in the special attraction bout of “Border Explosion” Saturday night at the McAllen Convention Center.

“It felt real good to get back into the ring,” said Molina ,who returned to the ring after suffering a first round knockout loss to Chris Arreola back in February. “This was a good tune up fight for me and Greeley was the perfect opponent. This was the fight I was anticipating tonight.”
Both fighters in the first three rounds seemed to fight very cautiously and couldn’t seem to find their rhythm.  It wasn’t until the 4^th round when Molina started to open up and land some heavy blows to the body of Greeley.

By the fifth round it was obvious that Molina had confidently began controlling the fight and proceeded to let his punches fly throughout the remainder of it.

“The first couple of rounds I was trying to feel him out,” said Molina. “In the later rounds, I was able to catch some pretty good body shots on him.”

Though Molina didn’t appear to have any problems with Greeley, he never once took his opponent for granted.

“He is a rugged fighter,” said Molina. “He has had over 60 fights with the who’s who in the Heavyweight division including going the distance with Chris Arreola.”

“Even though I am known for my knockout power, I knew it was going to be tough dropping this guy because he hasn’t been dropped too many times in his boxing career. But the main thing is I was able to get the win and now I will wait and see what comes next.”

One of the most exciting fights of the night was the co- main event and was one the fighters involved and the fans will not soon forget.

Victor Sanchez (3-3-1) of Houston pulled off a huge upset victory over the heavy favorite Jerry Guevara (7-1, 5 KO’s) of Brownsville by unanimous decision.

Both fighters went toe-to-toe with each other throughout the entire fight and were involved in an old fashion slugfest. 

Guevara used his speed to his advantage in the first couple of rounds as he pounded on Sanchez and even dropped him in the first round.

But in the third round, Sanchez started to get back into the fight as he nailed Guevara with combinations and eventually stunned him with a right hook later in the round.

Sanchez continued the onslaught in the fifth and sixth rounds as he kept chopping down Guevara and sent him to the canvas for the first time in the fifth round with a thunderous body shot and twice in the sixth which clearly won the fight for him.

Though Sanchez came to the fight as a clear cut underdog, he was confident after defeating two of

Top Rank’s premiere prospects.

“Coming into the fight, I’m sure most people thought I was a nobody after looking at my record and thought Guevara would pick up the win,” said Sanchez. “However, I got experience facing prospects and I proved tonight I could bang with the best.”

In the main event, Golden Boy prospect Carlos Molina kept his perfect record intact as he captured the vacant NABO Lightweight Intercontinental title by defeating Marcus Jimenez by unanimous decision.

In other action, Mission’s Isaac Torres (2-0) and Pharr native Enrique Alvarez (2-0) picked up impressive knockout victories in the first round and Isaac’s brother Marc scored his first professional win as he defeated Eduardo Alvarado by unanimous decision.

Also victorious was San Antonio native James Cantu (9-0, 5 KO’s) as he defeated Hector Garza (3-6) of Harlingen by unanimous decision.

Austin’s Elio Ruiz (1-1) picked up his first professional victory of his career as he defeated Ivan Rios (0-6) of McAllen by unanimous decision in the opening bout of the evening.