The quintessential John Molina Jr. first seeped into the boxing public?s consciousness on July 9, 2010, during his lightweight fight against undefeated ?Hammering? Hank Lundy in a small venue in Rhode Island, about 3,000 miles from Molina?s Covina, Calif., home. It was an episode of ESPN?s Friday Night Fights.
Molina was 20-1 coming in but had not beaten anyone of real consequence. Lundy was a smack-talking fighter out of Philly who seemed to have the goods to back up the cockiness.
Lundy dominated Molina through seven rounds, talking trash the whole way.
But in the 8th, with Molina down badly on all three scorecards, ?The Gladiator? suddenly dropped Lundy with a powerful right. Then in the 11th, Molina, now controlling the action, pummeled Lundy into submission and won by TKO.
Three years later at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Molina was being badly beaten ? outboxed, really ? by another undefeated fighter, Mickey Bey. In the 10th round, Bey was pounding on Molina at will, snapping his head back enough with stiff jabs and combinations to prompt Showtime?s Hall of Fame ringside analyst Steve Farhood to quip, ?Molina needs a nine-run home run.? Then, as suddenly as you could imagine, Molina jacked one out of the park with eight men on, stinging Bey with a hard left hook. He put him away seconds later for another unlikely victory.
And who can forget Molina?s 2014 Fight of the Year against Argentine slugger Lucas Matthysse? Both men were knocked down twice, and a bloodied but unbowed Molina lasted into the 11th round, standing up to the punishment being dished out by Matthysse before referee Pat Russell stepped in and mercifully waved off the fight.
The point is, you should count John Molina Jr. out of a fight at your own risk. This is a fighter who simply does not quit. Keep that in mind as you watch his super lightweight title fight against undefeated champion Terence Crawford on Saturday night (HBO, 9:35 p.m. ET) at the CenturyLink Center in Crawford?s hometown of Omaha.
Not that many, outside of Molina, his family and his team, perhaps, believe ?The Gladiator? can defeat ?Bud? Crawford, who?s coming off an impressive victory against then-unbeaten Viktor Postol in July to unify the belts. But Molina, a massive underdog, believes it and that?s all you need to know.
?Every fight is unique in its own right. Every fight I?ve ever been in I?ve been the underdog, and I?ve come out on top, being the underdog, on more than one occasion in recent times,? Molina told USA TODAY Sports by phone this week. ?I like my chances, I like my fight Saturday night. Terence Crawford is someone who has been on my radar for a long time, before he even came on the scene. He?s a great fighter, he?s a great talent and highly touted, and rightfully so.
?With all that said, what?s going to happen if things don?t play out the way everybody thinks they?re going to play out? And what does that make me? They?ll say, ?Oh, John Molina got lucky again.? Against (Ruslan) Provodnikov, ?maybe Provodnikov took one too many beatings,? which is completely bogus because Provodnikov was in the best shape of his life. He threw more punches in my fight than he did against the (Tim) Bradleys of the world, all the other fights that were ?the best fights of his career,? the Matthysse fight.?
Molina (29-6, 23 KOs) was talking about his most recent fight, an upset of ?The Siberian Rocky? at the Turning Stone Casino in New York in July. Molina was as much as a 7-1 underdog, but used a powerful jab to defeat Provodnikov.
But at the moment, he has only Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) on his mind.
?I?m laser-focused on Terence Crawford. That is my undivided attention and I?m prepared to do what I have to do Saturday night,? said Molina, who is fighting for the second time under the direction of trainer Shadeed Suluki, who Molina credited greatly for his victory against Provodnikov for employing that jab.
?I?m prepared for the best version of Terence Crawford, which is a big statement because him at his best is arguably one of the best in the game today. With that being said, I?m uber-confident in my ability to beat Terence Saturday night. I?m not going to Omaha to lose. Trust me. Believe me when I say that. . . . I?m in this fight. I?m all in and I?m going to give it everything I?ve got. And that night is going to be a great night for boxing. It?s going to be a fight fans are going to enjoy.?
Ironically it was Lundy, who was stopped in the fifth round by Crawford at Madison Square Garden in February, who was Molina?s chief sparring partner for this fight.
?We did all our homework and we are prepared,? the 33-year-old Molina said. ?Hank Lundy was an enormous help as a sparring partner. I?m very confident in the game plan my team put together and I think it?s going to be showcased Saturday night. It will be important to take Terence into deep water.?
Crawford?s respected trainer Brian McIntyre says good luck with that.
?Molina is a very tricky fighter coming off an exciting win over Provodnikov. He will try to capitalize on that momentum. It will be an exciting fight,? McIntyre said during a media workout recently. ?Molina may try to box Terence but when that doesn?t work, he will revert back to his old style. He?s going to get hit with power he has never felt before.?
Perhaps, but don?t expect Molina to quit. As he has shown time and time again, at times to his detriment, it?s simply not in his DNA.
