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John Molina predicts pain for Adrien Broner

Fighters Network
16
Jan
Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

 

NEW YORK – John Molina predicted “pain” for RING No. 6-rated junior welterweight Adrien Broner, who has vowed to deliver a stoppage victory when they meet on March 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Molina-Broner was announced on Wednesday at NBC studios as a co-feature of NBC’s new boxing series titled, “Premier Boxing Champions” (“PBC on NBC”), that is part of a multi-year deal between the network and adviser Al Haymon.

On April 11 in New York, likely at Barclays Center, RING No. 2-rated IBF beltholder Lamont Peterson will compete in a 143-pound catchweight bout opposite RING 140-pound champion Danny Garcia, who also holds the WBA and WBC titles.



“Is Broner a showman? Yes, but his accolades speak for themselves,” said Molina, whose clash with Broner will support THE RING’s No. 7-rated welterweight Keith Thurman against No. 8-rated Robert Guerrero. “In the ring, however, you have to respect his craft. He’s very quick-handed but I believe that he is going to stand in there and exchange with me, which I believe will be to his demise.”

A three-division titlist nicknamed “The Problem,” Broner (29-1, 22 knockouts), 25, called out THE RING’s No. 1-rated junior welterweight Lucas Matthysse after defeating Emmanuel Taylor in his last bout in September, a 12-round unanimous decision victory at U.S. Bank Arena in Broner’s native Cincinnati, Ohio.

“You have to remember that Broner didn’t choose me; I chose him. I’ve called him out more than over a year ago, so in the mental aspect of this game, it’s John Molina over Adrien Broner, 1-0,” said Molina. “I called him out and I got the fight that we wanted. It’s definitely the fight that we wanted. He may have made the decision to take this fight but remember, we called him out.”

The 32-year-old Molina (27-5, 22 KOs) is attempting come back from two straight losses, having been unanimously decisioned by former lightweight titleholder Humberto Soto in September and knocked out in the 11th round by Matthysse in April. Against Matthysse, Molina was dropped three times in a thriller in which he also floored Matthysse once each in the second and fifth rounds.

“Molina is a good fighter and he can say whatever he wants but on March 7, he’s going to have to back up everything that he says,” said Broner. “But on March 7, he’s still got to win and he’s not going to win because I’m going to be ready.”

Molina is 3-4 with three knockouts in his past six bouts, the first of which was a first round stoppage loss to former titleholder Antonio DeMarco in September 2012. During that time, however, Molina has also scored impressive knockouts in the fourth round over Dannie Williams in January 2013 and previously undefeated Mickey Bey in the 10th and final round in July of that year.

“I think that he’s very similar to Bey in terms of attributes like speed and whatnot but, again, you don’t look at each individual one as better than the other. They’re all the same. I’ll make my adjustments in the ring,” said Molina.

“It’s definitely a combination of the way that I fight that has given me this opportunity to face Broner. To me, I’m here to fight. The fans are going to be there to support me because they love the style that I fight. They love what I bring to the table because I’m a real fighter.”

But Molina is in for a rude awakening if he sees similarities to Bey, according to Broner.

“I take nothing away from Mickey Bey. He got caught with a good shot and an ugly shot at that. But there are no similarities. Mickey Bey fights like Mickey Bey and I fight like Adrien Broner and he’ll see that on March 7,” said Broner. “I’m the bigger name; I’m the bigger puncher and I’ll be the bigger man that night.”

Broner’s victory over Taylor was his second consecutive junior welterweight victory since dropping a unanimous decision to Marcos Maidana that dethroned him as WBA welterweight beltholder in Dec. 2013.

“This is a very special fight. This is Adrien Broner. He definitely carries a lot of weight because of the fact that he does a lot in the ring. He’s a great fighter and you can’t take anything away from him. His loss was against a man who is arguably one of the strongest in the sport,” said Molina of Broner, who was dropped once each in the second and eighth rounds by Maidana.

“Broner finished that fight on his feet, which you have to give him credit for doing. But with that being said, I’m going in there to disrupt him. This is a perfect, classic fight for prime time television. You have the fast mover and shaker who is flamboyant and has showmanship versus the rugged truck warrior who is going to try to go in there and bulldoze that sports car. Styles make fights. My prediction is pain. A lot of pain.”

“This will be my third fight at 140 and it definitely feels good. I’ve been getting stronger and stronger at this weight because, you know, I had been a 135-pounder forever,” said Broner. “But I’ve finally grown into the weight. I think that this will be the first time that I will feel fully comfortable at this weight and I feel like I’m going to stop John Molina. Every fighter is tough and he’s a tough cookie but I’ve got a lot of milk to soften him up.”

Before facing Taylor, Broner was coming off a unanimous decision over Carlos Molina in a junior welterweight debut in support of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s majority decision over Maidana in May.

The win over Taylor was impressive given that the 24-year-old had scored his biggest career win in July, a unanimous decision over Karim Mayfield. Taylor’s triumph over Mayfield helped him bounce back from last February’s unanimous decision loss to former WBO junior welterweight beltholder Chris Algieri.

“Everything that I’ve done in this camp will be shown on March 7. I feel a lot more comfortable,” said Broner. “I’m back in my groove and it’s time to the show the world who Adrien Broner really is. I’ve got to put on a great show.”

 

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