Adrien Broner Defeats Overmatched John Molina Jr

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Adrien Broner (30-1 22 KOs) opened up the debut of Premier Boxing Champions with a unanimous decision over a thoroughly outclassed John Molina, Jr (27-6 22 KOs).

In a non-title fight that was supposed to be another step toward redemption for Adrien Broner after his 2013 defeat at the hands of Marcos Maidana, Broner did what many expected him to do against a much slower Molina Jr.

As the premier of PBC on NBC, I feel it is necessary to comment on the presentation. The production value was there. The sets were there, the lighting… overall, boxing received the “NFL treatment” this evening, and that is a great thing. It was unfortunate that the ring walks did not contain entourages or unique entrance music. Something about this didn’t ring true with me and felt “small-time”. I’ll get into it more at another time, but I thought that was worth mentioning.

The opening round of the fight began with a feeling out period, but it didn’t take long for Broner to recognize that he was in a fight with a huge speed advantage. Broner then settled into his gameplan of keeping his distance and controlling the fight with his jab. Whenever Molina Jr. would begin to close the gap, Broner would tie him up until the ref reset the fighters. Rinse, wash, repeat, all fight long. With the lack of a “plan B” and an overreliance on looping lead rights, Broner had nothing to adjust to all fight long.

John Molina Jr. was clearly looking to land a huge punch that would never come. Sure, he landed a nice shot in round three but overall it was a tale of Broner controlling the pace and distance while easily avoiding the few bombs that Molina Jr. was willing to throw throughout the fight. Offensive bursts from Molina Jr. were both few and far between and largely ineffective.

Anyone that was waiting for the big finish that Molina has been able to deliver in the past would be left unsatisfied, as Molina never really seemed to get going. The fight was completely out of reach by round twelve and much to the chagrin of the crowd; Broner was happy to avoid any danger by avoiding exchanges and coasting to victory.

Many were hoping that this fight would answer some questions about Broner, but that was always in the hands of John Molina Jr. The expectation was for Broner to easily outclass him, but if he were able to bring some fireworks and make Broner dig down, the fight may have said much more about Broner than what we got. In the end, the only answer we received was one that we already had; Broner’s talent was just too much for John Molina Jr.

In his post fight interview Broner had this to say about his debut on PBC…

“The environment I’m in today, a lot of them were not on my side, but at the end of the day the last time I fought for the crowd I took my first loss. So, no disrespect to everyone that came to see me fight today, I had to do what I had to do to get my victory today.”

“Even a vicious guy like [John] Molina, as you can see I stood right inside of his face and didn’t go anywhere. I jabbed and took every shot that he threw. I took mine and won the fight unanimously.”

Overall, an inauspicious debut fight for PBC on NBC.