- Adrien Broner v Carlos Molina
Broner dominates Molina in Vegas
On Saturday night, the brash and flashy Adrien Broner, who won three world titles in three weight classes by age 23, was looking to rebound from his first defeat, when Marcos Maidana dropped him twice, beat him up and outpointed him to take his welterweight belt in December.
Mission accomplished, as Broner, now 24, easily outpointed Carlos Molina, as expected, winning a unanimous 10-round decision. The judges had it 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92. ESPN.com also had it 99-91 for Broner.
Vegas Fight Night
"I think he did great," said Mike Stafford, Broner's trainer. "He didn't get hit and he picked that guy apart. He gave him a boxing lesson."
Broner dropped down to junior welterweight, which he had skipped over, to face Molina in what became the mismatch most expected.
"It was a comeback fight and shook the cobwebs off," Broner said. "As you can see I really didn't go through no trouble in that fight. It was a sparring match. [The loss] definitely humbled me in some ways but I'm still Adrien 'The Problem' Broner and anyone can get it."
Molina, 28, who hadn't fought since being knocked out in the 10th round by Amir Khan in December 2012, landed a hard right hand in the second round that sent Broner scurrying back to the ropes, but he couldn't follow up. Molina didn't have another chance for a big moment.
In the third round, referee Kenny Bayless gave Broner a warning when he slammed Molina to the mat, after which Molina landed some solid body shots with Broner against the ropes.
Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) seemed to begin to get in a groove in the fourth round as he fired combinations and connected with many shots against the more stationary Molina (17-2-1, 7 KOs), who was bruised around his left eye.
Broner started slowly, but by the sixth round he was landing almost at will as Molina's eye began to swell. He taunted Molina in the ninth round, drawing boos from the crowd as he won going away, although not in impressive fashion.
"This is def the right weight for me," said Broner, adding that he would like to fight Manny Pacquiao, as unlikely as that is. "The last weight was right for me, but there were just some things I didn't do."
This article originally appeared on ESPN.com