by David P. Greisman
John Molina Jr. has been suspended for seven months by the Nevada Athletic Commission due to his coming up positive for the banned diuretic furosemide in testing done for his March 7 unanimous decision loss to Adrien Broner.
The commission voted unanimously on the punishment during its Aug. 13 meeting. Molina’s hearing had kept getting pushed back. The suspension will date backward, meaning that Molina would presumably be able to fight again in October so long as he provides the commission with a clean drug test.
He was also fined $90,000 — 20 percent of his $450,000 purse — and must reimburse the state attorney general’s office for costs associated with the hearing as well as for the cost of drug testing lab expenses.
Molina said he regularly takes supplements and believes he must have taken a tainted supplement. His trainer, Joe Goossen, testified that Molina is professional about making weight, was five pounds away from the 140-pound limit with less than a week to go, and would not have needed a diuretic to drop weight.
Molina put forth a lackluster performance against Broner, losing his third straight bout. He was stopped in a war with Lucas Matthysse in April 2014 and then dropped a disappointing decision to Humberto Soto last September. The 32-year-old is 27-6 with 22 KOs.
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