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 bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 2000 to 2012 and held the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

super-bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a 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 sanctioning organizations or ...

title twice between 2006 and 2011.

Career history

Born in

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 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 where Lake Huron fl ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, 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 Nicky Booth (21 January 1980 – 13 January 2021) was a British professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2003. He challenged once for the IBO bantamweight title in 2001. At regional level, he held the British British may refer to: People ...

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 reserve land of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. It is jointly owned by the Chippewas of Rama First Nation and the Ontario Lottery and ...

Rama, Ontario Rama is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations community on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation reserve in Ontario, Canada. It is the home of Casino Rama. The community sports complex is called the Mnjikaning Arena Sports Ki, which was the ho ...

. 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. ...

. 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 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 Takalani Ndlovu (born 11 January 1978), is a South African professional boxer with orthodox stance who goes by the nickname of "Panther". Pro career He won the IBF junior featherweight title against Canadian Steve Molitor Steve Molitor (born ...

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 ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

against

Carl Frampton Carl Frampton (born 21 February 1987) is a former professional boxer from Northern Ireland who competed from 2009 to 2021. He is a former two-weight world champion, having held the WBA (Unified) and IBF super-bantamweight titles between 2014 a ...

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

Odyssey Arena The Odyssey Complex, formerly Odyssey Centre, is a sports and entertainment complex located within the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The complex originated in 1992 and came into fruition in June 1998. It opened in December 2 ...

. 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