Broner: Mayweather said he was motivated after watching me fight Molina

By Boxing News - 03/10/2015 - Comments

broner123By Chris Williams: After his impressive performance last Saturday night in whipping John Molina (27-6, 22 KOs) on NBC in the Premier Boxing Champions card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Adrien Broner (30-1, 22 KOs) says that he spoke with superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr, who told him he was motivated by his performance against the hard hitting Molina.

Broner’s performance was one of the best of his career with the way he totally handcuffed the hard-hitting Molina with his defensive skills, and had him hitting air all night long.

Molina was so unnerved by the things Broner was doing in the ring that Molina almost completely stopped trying to throw punches after the first four rounds. Broner wound up winning the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 120-108, 120-108 and 118-110.

“He [Mayweather] told me something that’s going to stay with me for a long time,” Broner said via Fighthype. “After watching me fight, [he told me] it motivated him. So to hear it from my mentor, I’ve done something right. I think he sees himself at a young age,” Broner said.

Broner looked like the closest thing to Mayweather that I’ve ever seen before. Of course, Mayweather’s hand speed and ring movement is on another level, but Broner made up for what he lacked in those departments with his shoulder roll and his pinpoint punches that he was throwing.

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Molina wasn’t able to land any of his big power shots in the fight. Even when he appeared to land something, Molina still wasn’t able to land cleanly due to Broner rolling with the punches.

Many of the shots that Molina attempted to throw to the head were picked off by Broner’s shoulder roll. It was next to impossible for Molina to land any of his big shots, and that was why he eventually stopped trying to throw the shots.

“It wasn’t a matter of being less aggressive,” Molina said via Radio Raheem after the fight. “It would be like me shadow boxing. The guy was gone even when he was there. He’s kind of an enigma, because he looks like he’s right in front of you, but he’s really not. He’s far enough away to make you miss. He’s definitely very fast and very elusive.”

It’s next to impossible to land shots against Broner unless you attack him with looping overhand shots the way that Marcos Maidana did in his win over Broner in December 2013. But I don’t think Maidana would have the same kind of luck with Broner at this point in his career, because Broner has improved his defense.

Broner has also put on more muscle on his upper body, and he’s got more power on his shots than he did in 2013. A large part of that is Broner getting a little older and picking up more natural strength now that he’s in his mid-20s.

If Broner can keep on improving his game, he stands a good chance of taking over for Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao as the No.1 pay-per-view fighter in the sport. He just needs to stay serious and put his focus on his boxing career rather than on other career endeavors like rap.



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