By Jake Donovan

With both fighters in desperate need of a win to keep moving forward, Mercito Gesta and Carlos Molina are as ready as they can possibly be for their crossroads bout Thursday evening at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.

Gesta came in a 136.5 lbs, while Molina tipped the scales at 139.4 lbs for the scheduled 10-round clash, which airs live on Fox Sports 1 (Thursday, 

10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT).

There was no indication of whether or not Molina was heavy; previous discussions placed the bout at a catchweight of 138 lbs. 

Gets (28-1-1, 16KOs) was once regarded as a lightweight on the rise, but fell flat in a Dec. ’12 title bid versus Miguel Vazquez. The night didn’t turn out very well for the Filipino community; shortly after Gesta’s loss, Manny Pacquiao was knocked out cold by longtime rival Juan Manuel Marquez in their epic fourth bout which headlined the card. 

As for Gesta, the loss to Vazquez was followed by a break and a career reevaluation. The 27-year old southpaw returned in 2014, scoring back-to-back knockout wins in his adopted hometown of San Diego. He has been out of the ring since a 7th round knockout of Luis Arceo last July. 

While it’s been eight months since Gesta has last seen action, it’s been an even greater stretch of inactivity for Molina (17-2-1, 7KOs). The once promising prospect comes in having not won a fight in nearly three years. 

Two losses have followed his last win, both coming in high profile fights. Molina was unbeaten when he agreed to face Amir Khan in Dec. ’12, a night he admits in retrospect was a very bad matchup for him. 

A more competitive effort came in his loss to Adrien Broner last May in Las Vegas. Molina started out strong, but quickly fizzled against the former three-division titlist. 

In the co-feature, Jeffrey Fontanel (15-1, 11KOs) aims to rediscover the win column as he faces veteran spoiler Jose ‘Loco Por Dios’ Fontanez. Both fighters made weight for their scheduled eight-round lightweight bout; Fontanez came in at 135.6 lbs., while Hernandez weighed 135.8 lbs.

FULL CARD/WEIGHTS

Mercito Gesta, 136.5 lbs. vs. Carlos Molina 139.4 lbs. - 10 rds, junior welterweight

Jeffrey Fontanez 135.6 lbs. vs. Jose Hernandez 135.8 - 8 rds, lightweight

Yamaguchi Falcao 161.2 lbs. vs. Gerardo Ibarra 161.6 - 8 rds, middleweight

Jason Quigley 161.4 lbs. vs. Joshua Snyder 160.4 - 6 rds, middleweight

Rafael Gramajo 121.8 lbs. vs. Luis Cosme 121.6 - 4 rds, junior featherweight

Ruslan Madiev 136.8 lbs. vs. Christian Santibanez 136.4 - 4 rds, lightweight

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox