Morales-Garcia, Kirkland-Molina double-header aimed for HBO, Jan. 28

RingTV.com has learned that WBC 140-pound beltholder Erik Morales, of Mexico, could face Philadelphia's Danny Garcia Jan. 28 on HBO, with the co-feature matching THE RING's No. 5-rated junior middleweight Carlos Molina opposite RING No. 6-rated counterpart James Kirkland.

Morales (52-7, 36 KOs), THE RING No. 7-rated junior welterweight, has won four belts over as many different weight classes, the first Mexican to do so. Garcia (22-0, 14 KOs), rated No. 9 by THE RING, is coming off a unanimous decision over former titleholder Kendall Holt in October.

Kirkland (30-1, 27 KOs), THE RING's No. 6-rated junior middleweight, is coming off an HBO-televised sixth-round knockout of Alfredo Angulo (20-2, 17 KOs) in Cancun, Mexico, on Nov. 5.

Molina (19-4-2, 6 KOs) has an unbeaten streak of 11-0-1 with two knockouts that includes having sandwiched a victory over two-time welterweight beltwinner Kermit Cintron (33-5-1, 28 KOs) in July and a draw with then-unbeaten southpaw Erislandy Lara (15-1-1, 10 KOs) in March around a seventh-round stoppage of Allen Conyers in April.

The run also includes a unanimous decision over welterweight contender Ed Paredes (27-3-1, 17 KOs) in April of 2009. Early on, Molina battled through a draw, and, a six-round majority decision loss to current WBC middleweight beltholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30 KOs) in December of 2005 and 2006, respectively.

BoxingScene.com first reported the Kirkland-Molina possibility.

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com