IBF junior middleweight championship bout canceled as Carlos Molina remains jailed

LAS VEGAS -- IBF junior middleweight champion Carlos Amado Molina remains in the Clark County, Nev., Detention Center, facing possible deportation, and Friday afternoon his IBF title bout with Jermall Charlo at the MGM Grand was canceled.

Molina, 30, was to have defended the title he won from Ishe Smith in September on the pay-per-view portion of the Canelo Alvarez-Alfredo Angulo bout at the MGM Grand on Saturday. But Molina was arrested Tuesday on outstanding warrants from Wisconsin and then placed on an immigration hold.

Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer said that a lightweight fight between Alvarez's older brother, Ricardo, and Sergio "Yeyo" Thompson would be moved to the pay-per-view card to replace the canceled Molina-Charlo bout.

"Fortunately this is a very deep card and strictly from an entertainment standpoint, the Ricardo Alvarez-Yeyo Thompson fight is on paper a more entertaining fight [than Molina-Charlo]," Schaefer told Yahoo Sports.

Molina's issues, though are deeper than simply a canceled title defense. He was arrested Tuesday by Las Vegas police because of warrants from Wisconsin. He was convicted in Wisconsin in 2002 of having sex with a person under 16, a Class C felony. His arrest Tuesday was because he had failed to register in Wisconsin as a sex offender.

But once he was processed, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement ordered him to be held.

Leon Margules of Warriors Boxing, Molina's promoter, failed to return messages seeking comment. However, Schaefer said: "It seems like he has a multitude of issues, and I'm not familiar with all of them, but it's going to take a while before he's out. He couldn't make the weigh-in and so the fight had to be canceled."

Immigration considers Molina an illegal alien.

Margules told ESPN.com that Molina lost his status as a permanent resident after being convicted of the sex charge in 2002. He was deported in 2005, Margules said, but then snuck across the border after and has remained in the U.S. since.

Peter L. Ashman, the chairman of the Nevada chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the next step for Molina could be appearing before an immigration judge where he may face deportation to Mexico, where he was born.

Schaefer said he plans to speak to the IBF about the future of its title and said he hopes if the title becomes vacant that Charlo is allowed to fight another opponent for it in the near future.