Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles - In a fight that was originally scheduled for junior welterweight and later changed to welterweight, former world champion Omar Figueroa (28-0-1, 19 KOs) picked up what some felt was a controversial ten round unanimous decision over John Molina (30-8, 24 KOs).

The contest was close, but the official judges saw it very wide for Figueroa with scores of 97-93, 98-92 and 99-91. For unknown reasons, there was a long delay before announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. was handed the scorecards.

Figueroa was in action for the first time since demolishing Robert Guerrero in three rounds in July 2017, in a fight where Guerrero hit the floor five times. Figueroa has had several long stints of inactivity over the years due to injuries.

Molina was scheduled to fight Victor Ortiz last year. The contest was called off a few days before the bout, after Ortiz was arrested and charged with sexual assault. Because of that, Molina had been on the shelf since December 2017, when he knocked out Ivan Redkach in four round war that saw both boxers on the mat.

In the first, Molina came out boxing and looking to use his jab. Figueroa was looking to jab his way in to the body, but he was getting tagged with the harder punches of Molina. Figueroa tried to steal the round in the closing seconds with a burst of punches.

Figueroa was countering in the second with solid punches on the inside. Molina was doing a lot of holding when Figueroa came in close. Molina was doing well fighting off the ropes with short punches.

Molina was jabbing and moving in the third. It didn't take too long before they were trading punches in close. Molina's jab was working well for him and rallied with hard shots in the closing seconds. They were trading hard punches at the start of the fourth. Figueroa appeared to stun Molina with a few hard shots, but Molina was firing back with some bombs of his own to get out of danger. Figueroa continued to come forward and caught Molina with solid hooks to the body.

In the fifth, Molina was back to the jab. Figueroa seemed to be a little winded as Molina was mostly using his jab. During the final minute, Molina landed a very big right hand on Figueroa. At the start of the sixth, Figueroa shook up Molina with a good right. But they started trading and Molina had the edge.

Figueroa rattled Molina at the start of the seventh. Molina recovered well and continued to fight back. Both boxers were working each other over at close range. Figueroa was taking Molina's punches and continued to come forward in the eight.  The action was close, with both working, but Molina was landing the more effective shots.

They were picking their punches in the ninth. Figueroa was connecting the more eye catching stuff. Neither guy went for broke in the tenth and final round. Figueroa seemed to do the better work and was pressuring Molina the entire way.