by David P. Greisman

Junior middleweight titleholder Carlos Molina was released from jail earlier this week and has since returned to Mexico after being held in the Clark County Detention Center for about two months, according to Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN Deportes.

Molina had been taken into custody just five days before his scheduled March 8 defense against Jermall Charlo on the undercard to Canelo Alvarez vs. Alfredo Angulo. He was arrested on open warrants and also was being held for alleged immigration violations.

Wisconsin online court records note that Molina allegedly failed to register as a sex offender, a felony that dates back to July 2006, with the warrant filed in January 2007. A misdemeanor disorderly conduct accusation dates back to May 2005, with the warrant issued in September 2005.

Hearings in those cases have been scheduled for May 29, according to online court records.

In 2002, Molina pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree sexual assault of a child. When Molina was 18, he had sex with a 13-year-old girl, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

More from that Review-Journal article:

“The girl told police she was at her home with a friend when her friend invited her boyfriend, a man identified in the [police] report as Jaime, to the victim’s home. Molina, who didn’t know either of the girls, accompanied Jaime, the report said. Molina later began kissing the victim, who told police she initially wanted nothing to do with Molina. But the victim’s friend ‘wanted her to go along with kissing Carlos so that Carlos would not leave,’ the report said. The victim and Molina later had sex.”

Molina lost his status as a permanent resident and was deported in 2006, the article said. He returned to the United States illegally. Every single one of his boxing matches since then took place in America.

Now it looks like his next title defense will take place in Mexico, according to what Molina’s promoter told ESPN.

The 30-year-old won the International Boxing Federation’s junior middleweight title in September 2013 with a split decision over Ishe Smith. The IBF ratings say Molina’s mandatory defense of the title is due by June 14. Cornelius Bundrage is currently the No. 1 ranked challenger.

Molina is 22-5-2 with 6 knockouts.

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