Back in March, Showtime picked up a title unification bout that American diehard boxing fans really, really wanted to see.

That night in London, David Haye smoked Enzo Maccarinelli in two rounds to unify the WBA, WBC and WBO titles. While it was hard to argue with a great couple rounds of action, it was also hard to not be a bit let down.

Fast forward eight months, with Showtime nabbing a 122-pound unification fight between IBF titlist Steve Molitor and WBA beltholder Celestino Caballero.

Again, it's hard to not be a bit let down, even though we got to see something that usually would be reserved for scouring internet streams and hoping the video isn't too choppy.

Tonight in Rama, Ontario, on Steve Molitor's turf, it was Celestino Caballero who fought like he was in his own backyard, troubling Molitor from the get-go and knocking him out in the fourth round. It was clear in round one that Molitor either had no gameplan, had a bad gameplan, or just didn't know what to do with Caballero's freakish reach and height advantages.

In the third -- which was Molitor's best round (he won none of them) -- Caballero appeared to sting Molitor just before the bell with an uppercut. Early in the fourth, he found that same punch again, and it put Molitor on the mat. After continuing, Molitor was hit four times, on his way down again, and his corner threw in the towel. It appeared that referee Luis Pabon was going to stop it no matter what.

What can you really say? There's not much to analyze. Without being mean, let's face facts: Steve Molitor got his ass kicked tonight. When he wasn't running around the ring, looking to escape Caballero's awkward charges and frustrating style, he was coming up short. Coming up short when he chose to throw at all, that is. He appeared trigger-shy, and admitted after the fight that he was as tight as everyone could see he was. He was never in the fight.

For Caballero, it's another good win for a fighter who is now deserving of a pound-for-pound top 20 consideration. There are more than 20 guys deserving of being in the talks, of course, and now Caballero is absolutely on the list of nominees. This win came against an unbeaten fighter who had largely dominated everyone in front of him, including some good pugs along the way.

I've said it before and will say it again. Caballero is no favorite of mine. I don't particularly enjoy watching him fight, I don't think he has any appreciable skill, and when the situation calls for it he's as dirty as they come. But the man is going to be trouble for anybody at the weight. It's so hard to get inside on him. He lost a couple fights, years ago. Those don't matter now. He is making a habit of beating on guys that'll fight him these days. It might be bowling shoe ugly, but he gets the job done.

Certainly a bit disappointing, but you can't fault Celestino Caballero for going out and doing his job in under four rounds, getting Steve Molitor out of there before the Ontario faithful could even really get settled in for their main event. For Molitor, it's back to the drawing board. For Caballero, he's now got two trinkets as a negotiation tactic. He'll use them.

Our live, round-by-round coverage begins tonight at 11pm ET. The fight will take place on Showtime, once again the go-to guys for these sort of fights that American diehards want to see. Another kudos to the boxing team over at the "other" premium boxing outlet for the States.

via www.eastsideboxing.com

All lines, as always, are taken from the Bodog book.

The biggest fight of the weekend, of course, will main event on HBO from Las Vegas, as junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton defends his crown against Brooklyn slickster Paulie Malignaggi.

The style clash should make for an interesting fight so long as Paulie is at his best -- and yes, that means I think the fight's aesthetic enjoyment is far more heavily on Malignaggi's back than Hatton's. If Paulie breaks his hand and has to fight with a jab, it won't be much fun to watch.

That said, the lines favor the proven commodity. Hatton is a -260 favorite, with Malignaggi a +200 underdog. Neither line makes for a big favorite or big underdog, but it's clear enough on both sides. Of course you also have to take into account the health of both. Malignaggi has his hands, and Hatton looks kind of like Skeletor after a trip to Starbucks:

Dear Ricky,

Enough with that f***ing hat.

Sincerely,

Your Fans

The only televised undercard fight of the night pits James Kirkland and Brian Vera, with KO artist Kirkland a heavy favorite at -675. Vera is a +575 bet, and might be worth throwing down a bit of scratch. Not much, mind you, but let's not forget he upset the far higher-regarded Andy Lee this year, controversial or not. Vera is a pretty good puncher. The only real worry is we've seen Jaidon Codrington knock his block off before, and Kirkland is even more explosive than the best Codrington.

The Kirkland-Vera scrap, for the record, is taking place at middleweight, the middle ground between Kirkland's usual 154 and Vera's 168.

The Vegas show has some interesting (well, OK, maybe not "interesting") off-TV fights, too.

Rey Bautista (-500) will battle Heriberto Ruiz (+300) at 122 pounds. Bautista (26-1, 19 KO) is just 22 years old still, and the last time he stepped up competition, it was way too much, way too soon when Daniel Ponce de Leon crushed him in under one round. The 31-year old Ruiz (39-7-2, 23 KO) has been around the block a few times, and once challenged Rafael Marquez for a bantamweight title.

Also, Ricky's likable, skills-challenged younger brother, Matthew Hatton will meet Ben Tackie, a rugged veteran now serving as perhaps boxing's best gatekeeper. Tackie has lost five of his last seven, but has taken Kendall Holt, Alfonso Gomez, Henry Bruseles, Freddy Hernandez and Juan Lazcano to the limit in those losses, and has never been knocked out in any of his ten defeats. He's also lost to Ricky Hatton, Kostya Tszyu, Sharmba Mitchell, John John Molina and Gregorio Vargas. He barely won a round in three straight defeats to the Tszyu, Mitchell and Ricky, in that order.

Tackie is a -130 favorite, with Matthew Hatton an even money bet for the fight.

Friday night on Showtime, IBF junior featherweight titlist Steve Molitor is a slight favorite at home against WBA beltholder Celestino Caballero. Molitor is at -170, with Caballero at +140. Tough bet either way -- it's a highly competitive, X-factor sort of matchup on paper.

Elsewhere this weekend:

WBA titleholder Hugo Garay will take on Juergen Braehmer in a battle of top 10 guys at 175. No underdog listed; Garay is a -125 bet, with Braehmer at -105.

Former bantamweight titleholder Jhonny Gonzalez continues his comeback march on Saturday in Cabazon, California, taking on Reynaldo Lopez, owner of one of the fakest nice-looking records in boxing. Gonzalez is a huge favorite (-525) and he deserves to be. Lopez is a +325 dog. Lopez is 30-5-2 (21 KO), but only his May upset over Mike Oliver is worth much of anything. After that, he went right back to fighting bums in Colombia, beating a guy that came in with a 1-10-1 record in August. The upset over Oliver was pretty good, but it really sticks out like a sore thumb on his sheet.

Also in Cabazon, Nestor Rocha (-350) is the favorite against Michael Domingo (+275).

Both of the Molitor brothers were supposed to be here.

Jeremy, the older brother, was the 1998 Commonwealth Games welterweight gold medalist. He and younger brother Steve were called "The Bruise Brothers," local celebrities in Ontario.

It was Jeremy's footsteps that Steve wanted to follow in. At nine, Steve began boxing, which Jeremy was already quite good at.

Jeremy failed to make the 2000 Olympic team in Canada, and after that, things got out of control. Addictions to cocaine and alcohol led Jeremy down all the wrong paths in life, and they ruined his career. Even when he moved to Toronto to train with Steve and try to get things back on track, it didn't happen.

In 2002, after moving back home, Jeremy broke a restraining order and confronted his ex-girlfriend, a 21-year old woman named Jessica Nethery. He stabbed her 58 times. Two years later, Jeremy Molitor was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He is not eligible for parole until 2015, and it's not likely he'll be seeing the outside world at that time, either.

You've no doubt heard the story of the Molitor brothers at least in passing before if you follow boxing. Steve, now 28, is the IBF junior featherweight titleholder. He is a big star in Canada, one of many Canadian and Canadian-based fighters that have made the boxing game a hot ticket north of the States.

If both Molitor brothers couldn't achieve professional boxing stardom, Steve is doing his damnedest to be as good as possible on his own. So far, he's been excellent. The southpaw from Sarnia, Ontario, has so far run up a 28-0 record. His 11 knockouts are deceiving -- there have certainly been fights where "The Canadian Kid" has been perfectly willing to merely run up the scorecards and win the fights going away.

But with five knockouts in his last eight outings, Molitor is looking more willing to mix it up. Perhaps he's learned how good of a shot he can take. Perhaps he's learned that he punches harder than he might have thought back in the day. Perhaps it's just coincidence.

Whatever it is, Molitor is a TV fighter, as fun to watch as he is skilled, and he's very skilled.

His pro career has had its share of ups and downs outside of the ring, though. A nasty split with ex-trainer Chris Johnson and numerous run-ins with his promotional authorities have all but banned him from taking his show on the road and going to the States, which he's had the desire to do. Simply put, fights in America wind up on American TV. Rarely can the same be said of fights held in Canada.

Through arguments that have hampered his career a bit and the fact that he's as good as he is, nobody wants to fight Steve Molitor. While the 122-pound division is littered with brave, action-based warriors like Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Juan Manuel Lopez and Daniel Ponce de Leon, among others, Molitor has toiled in Canada with very little American fanfare. Only the diehards know just how good he really is.

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And then there's Celestino Caballero.

Since I'm not actively trying to sell anyone on a fight or a fighter in particular any time I write these previews or anything else, I'm not going to lie to you. I think Caballero is a horrible, filthy fighter. At 5'11", he makes the 122-pound limit with no reported trouble whatsoever. He is a genetic freak. He makes 6'1" welterweight Paul Williams look like Butterbean.

Caballero's exceptionally awkward, unskilled, unpolished, unrefined style can give anyone fits. He was the first man to beat Daniel Ponce de Leon back in 2005. He does have two career losses, but zero since 2004.

Last year, he was given the undercard spot on Showtime's Vazquez-Marquez II presentation, fighting Jorge Lacierva, a man who found himself seven inches shorter than the defending titlist and basically had to leap to hit him in the head.

It was an ugly, atrocious fight, entertaining for all the wrong reasons. It was also Caballero in a nutshell; any advantage he can take, he'll take. Headbutts, illegal shots, holding and hitting, elbows -- he does it all. If he could reach low enough against his average opponent, I'm sure he's a man who'd love a good, well-timed low blow.

Caballero (30-2, 21 KO) has power because of his size and the ridiculous angles he can take when throwing a punch. He pushes more than he punches often times, and doesn't seem to land full force. There's no "end of the punch" from Caballero too often; it's more how hard he can shove you with his fist after he's wound it up and launched his spider arm in your direction.

Caballero is dangerous because of his natural gifts. Molitor is dangerous because he's a genuinely good fighter who can box and brawl, and because at 5'7", he's one of the taller guys Caballero will face. He's also one of the best fighters Caballero has faced thus far.

These guys are fighting each other mostly because no one else wants to fight either one of them. Molitor is hamstrung to fighting in Canada, for all intents and purposes, and Caballero isn't worth nearly enough money anywhere he fights for the risks that come with facing someone of his ridiculous height.

As much as I can't lie about my fan feelings for Caballero, I'm glad he's found a dance partner. He's absolutely among the division's five best, and that deserves to be seen on American TV. Showtime fitting this one in is another testament to a network that has had an excellent boxing bounce-back from a dreadful 2007.

We'll have live, round-by-round coverage and scoring of the Caballlero-Molitor unification bout tomorrow night, and we hope you'll join us then.

For those that aren't familiar with junior featherweight titlists Celestino Caballero and/or Steve Molitor (pictured), the two men will meet in a unification match this Friday on Showtime. It's a true hardcore fan's matchup, and Showtime should be commended for making room for it on the schedule. Here are some articles from around the web so that you can familiarize yourself with the two if you don't much about them. Both are fine, fine fighters, legitimately among the top five in their division, and a win by either puts them into the pound-for-pound top 20 discussion, too.

Molitor, Caballero play it cool -- Toronto Star

Molitor looks to beat WBA champ Caballero to lift his boxing profile -- Canadian Press

Ex-trainer won't watch Molitor fight -- Calgary Herald (This one discusses Steve Molitor's falling out with former trainer Chris Johnson.)

Steve Molitor fights for himself and his brother -- MaxBoxing.com (Excellent article discussing Steve's brother, Jeremy, a former amateur standout currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend.)

Caballero & Molitor set for unification battle -- SecondsOut.com

We'll have more on this fight in the coming days, plus some talk about the junior welterweight championship fight between Ricky Hatton and Paulie Malignaggi on Saturday. We'll also have round-by-round coverage and scoring for both cards.