Ishe Smith vs Carlos Molina on for July

IBF light middleweight champion Ishe Smith will make his first defence against Carlos Molina in July with Mayweather Promotions promoting the card at a venue still to be determined.

Smith (25-5) recently defeated Cornelius Bundrage by a 12 round decision to capture the IBF title last February in a hard-fought fight. He was able to stay on the outside and use his speed and a hard jab to defeat the harder hitting Bundrage. Late in the fight, Smith was even able to stun Bundrage with some hard shots.

Molina (21-5-2) really deserves the title shot and it's good to see he'll get one. After a highly controversial defeat to James Kirkland last year where the referee stopped the fight that Molina was ahead in after his corner man stepped inside the ring after the round had ended following a knockdown of Molina by Kirkland. Molina had gotten back to his feet and beaten the count, yet the referee disqualified him because his corner stepped inside the ring. Molina has since beaten Damian Frias and Cory Spinks.