By Jake Donovan
Things continue to go from bad to worse in the career of John Molina, Jr.
Along with a three-fight losing streak, the junior welterweight gatekeeper was popped for a banned diuretic during random drug testing for his March 7 loss to Adrien Broner in Las Vegas. News surfaced Tuesday morning during the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s monthly agenda hearing, with Molina issued a temporary suspension.
The bout with Broner—who won a landslide decision over 12 rounds—was the opening leg of a show marking boxing’s return to network television in prime time. The March 7 show aired live on NBC in prime time, serving as the official launch of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series. The main event saw Keith Thurman drop and eventually outpoint Robert Guerrero in their 12-round welterweight battle.
Molina had the fan’s sympathy heading into the fight, an easy role to assume given Broner’s penchant for playing the villain in any given promotion. The brash former three-division champ from Cincinnati was initially announced as over the contracted limit during the pre-fight weigh-in, but his official weight of 141 lbs. accepted as “with the tolerated” limit of a non-title fight, as fighters are generally granted a +/1 lb. difference in weight.
Broner went on to cruise to victory, after which Molina chastised his opponent on air for not sticking to his promise of standing and trading. The remarks didn’t sit well with the viewing public, painting the Californian as a bit of a sore loser in addition to being a fighter who for 12 rounds couldn’t figure out how to change the course of the night.
Now he will have to explain to the Nevada commission—as well as those who’ve invested considerably into his career—the circumstances leading to his failed drug test.
A temporary suspension is in place, with Molina granted time to appear before the commission and plead his case, which will likely come at the next agenda hearing once formally scheduled. Barring a successful appeal, Molina will be forced to serve a full suspension in addition to having to forfeit a percentage of his fight purse, for which he earned $450,000.
The loss to Broner was Molina’s third in a row as his record now stands at 27-6 (22KOs). The 32-year old entered hasn’t won a fight since a 2nd round knockout of Jorge Pimentel in Nov. ’13, a stay-busy opportunity on the heels of a literal last minute 10th round knockout of Mickey Bey in a July ’13 clash he was hopelessly losing at the time of the stoppage.
Molina lost both of his fights in 2014, including a disappointing points loss to Humberto Soto last September. His other defeat was far more noble, twice dropping Lucas Matthysse only to suffer two knockdowns of his own in suffering an 11th round stoppage last April. The bout was hailed as Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, with the official honor to come this Friday in New York City, at the BWAA 90th Annual Awards Dinner.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
