John John Molina

Juan Molina (born March 17, 1965), better known as John John Molina in the world of boxing, is a former boxer whose career transcended boxing in Puerto Rico. A multiple time world champion, this boxer was also known as quite a socialite. Molina is a native of Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

Amateur career Molina represented Puerto Rico as a Bantamweight at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. His results were: 1st round bye Defeated Jarmo Eskelinen (Finland) 5-0 Lost to Pedro Nolasco (Dominican Republic) 2-3

Molina won the Boxing World Cup in Seoul, South Korea, November 1985, by knocking out Kelcie Banks in the finals. Upon returning to Puerto Rico, the 20-year-old youngster announced to Rafael Bracero on TV he would be ready to fight professional world Featherweight champion Victor Luvi Callejas within a year. That wasn't to happen, however.

Professional career Molina started as a professional on February 25, 1986, beating Job Walters by a decision in four. His first three fights were decisions. He won his first 14 bouts, nine of them by knockout. Among the people he beat during that span was Victor Aponte, who was a stablemate of both Alberto Mercado and Juan Carazo. Aponte got knocked out by Molina in the 10th and final round. During this period of his career, Molina received much television exposure in Puerto Rico, many of his fights being shown on TV by producer and fight commentator Ivonne Class and her Video Deportes company.

Then, he faced Lupe Suarez, losing for the first time, when he was knocked out in the ninth round. Immediately after suffering his first loss, he embarked on a five-fight win streak, including a disqualification win in four rounds over former Hector Camacho world title challenger Rafael Solis, and a knockout in eight over Miguel Medina. After those two wins, he was ranked as the number one challenger by the IBF.

On October 27, 1988, Molina was at The Arco Arena in Sacramento, to challenge the IBF super featherweight champion Tony Lopez, in what marked the beginning of a three-fight rivalry between Molina and Lopez. Molina dropped Lopez in round two, but Lopez went on to retain the title by a split decision.

In his next fight, April 29, 1989, the WBO put him and former WBC featherweight champion Juan Laporte against each other for the vacant WBO super featherweight title. Molina became a world champion by beating Laporte by a 12-round unanimous decision at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.

First IBF world title in September 1989, he returned to Arco Arena to resume his rivalry with Lopez. Molina won the IBF belt by knocking Lopez out in the tenth round.

On January 28, 1990, he avenged his loss to Suarez by knocking him out in the sixth round to retain the belt, but then, on May 20 of that year, he and Lopez met for their rubber match, this time in Reno. Lopez dropped Molina and won a unanimous decision to recover his status as world Jr. Lightweight champion.

Rebuilding Between 1990 and 1992, Molina won five straight fights, four by knockout.

Second title reign In early 1992, after Brian Mitchell (who had beaten Lopez), left the IBF title vacant due to retirement, Molina travelled to South Africa, where he met Jackie Gunguzula for the vacant world title. He knocked Gunguzula out in the fourth round to become world champion once again,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcg6mR1mpUQ and, days later, he was the object of a large welcoming at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan. During this period of his reign, Molina made seven defenses, beating challengers like Bernard Taylor, Floyd Havard, Wilson Rodriguez, former world Featherweight champion Gregorio Vargas and future world Featherweight champion Manuel "Mantecas" Medina, among others.

Around then, he became quite known by the mainstream Puerto Rican public, becoming one of the first boxers ever to be portrayed on the cover of Vea magazine, and dating a famous model.

De La Hoya vs. Molina

Molina then moved up in weight to challenge the WBO lightweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, losing by a unanimous decision in 12 rounds in an HBO Boxing televised event.

Latter career After that, Molina engaged in a series of fights against mostly lower-level opposition for the next two years, and he grew frustrated over the fact that his opposition level was being downgraded by promoters after the fight with de la Hoya. He won his next nine bouts, but the only two opponents that can probably be called respectable names in his list of opponents during that span were Jaime "Rocky" Balboa, beaten by decision in ten, and Isaac Cruz, beaten by a disqualification in four.

On May 9, 1998, Molina was given a second chance at a world lightweight championship, when he met IBF champion Sugar Shane Mosley, in Molina's second HBO fight. Mosley retained the title by a knockout in the eighth round, and Molina went back to the super featherweight division.

His next fight was also for the world title, but he had to wait nine months for that fight. In February 1999, he faced IBF super featherweight champion Robert Garcia, dropping the champion in their pay per view event but losing a 12-round decision in what turned out to be his last world title fight.

Molina wasn't done with boxing, and he went on to win seven more fights in a row, including two decision wins, one of which was televised by the USA Network over Emanuel Burton, and another one over future Kostya Tszyu world title challenger Ben Tackie, which was on the undercard of the Lennox Lewis vs. David Tua fight's pay per view program.

His last fight was a T.K.O. loss to Mexican Juan Lazcano, Molina retired from boxing after the fight.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes59Loss52–7Juan LazcanoTKO11 (12), May 5, 200158Win52–6Ben TackieSD10Nov 11, 200057Win51–6Emanuel AugustusUD10May 12, 200056Win50–6Juan Carlos SuárezTKO8 (12), Feb 16, 200055Win49–6Manuel GarnicaUD10Nov 14, 199954Win48–6Javier CarmonaKO1 (10), Oct 20, 199953Win47–6James CraytonUD10Jul 16, 199952Win46–6Ruben NevarezTKO7 (12), Mar 20, 19951Loss45–6Robert GarciaUD12Jan 16, 199950Loss45–5Shane MosleyTKO8 (12), May 9, 199849Win45–4Alex PérezTKO8 (10)Dec 14, 199748Win44–4Moses JamesUD10Nov 11, 199747Win43–4Joey NegronRTD6 (10)Oct 2, 199746Win42–4Elías QuirozTKO6 (10)May 31, 199745Win41–4Isaac CruzDQ4 (10), Mar 22, 199744Win40–4James CraytonUD10Jan 18, 199743Win39–4Jaime BalboaUD10Apr 10, 199642Win38–4Eduardo PérezTKO6 (12), Dec 1, 199541Win37–4Mark ReelsPTS10May 8, 199540Loss36–4Oscar De La HoyaUD12Feb 18, 199539Win36–3Wilson RodriguezKO10 (12), Nov 26, 199438Win35–3Gregorio VargasUD12Apr 22, 199437Win34–3Floyd HavardRTD6 (12), Jan 22, 199436Win33–3Bernard TaylorTKO8 (12), Oct 9, 199335Win32–3Manuel MedinaUD12Jun 26, 199334Win31–3Tony DuranTKO3May 14, 199333Win30–3Francisco SeguraTKO8 (12), Feb 13, 199332Win29–3Fernando CaicedoTKO4 (12), Aug 22, 199231Win28–3Donnie ParkerKO7Jul 2, 199230Win27–3Jackie GunguluzaTKO4 (12), Feb 22, 199229Win26–3Francisco OrtizTKO2Jan 14, 199228Win25–3Rowdy WelchPTS10Sep 13, 199127Win24–3Darryl RichardsonTKO3Jul 27, 199126Win23–3Víctor AponteTKO4Jun 29, 199125Win22–3Mario GómezTKO3 (10), Nov 3, 199024Loss21–3Tony LopezSD12May 20, 199023Win21–2Lupe SuárezTKO6 (12), Jan 28, 199022Win20–2Tony LopezTKO10 (12), Oct 7, 198921Win19–2Juan LaporteUD12Apr 29, 198920Loss18–2Tony LopezUD12Oct 27, 198819Win18–1Miguel MedinaTKO8 (10), Jul 16, 198818Win17–1Rafael SolisDQ4Jun 6, 198817Win16–1Fernando MaldonadoTKO4Nov 28, 198716Win15–1Richard CampbellKO4Jul 25, 198715Loss14–1Lupe SuárezTKO9 (10), May 24, 198714Win14–0Víctor AponteTKO10 (10)Mar 19, 198713Win13–0Chris SilvasKO3 (8), Feb 8, 198712Win12–0Carlos AlbuerneTKO3 (8)Dec 20, 198611Win11–0Kevin MarstonUD8Dec 11, 198610Win10–0Norís GautierKO1 (8)Nov 8, 19869Win9–0Na'eem MuhammadKO1, Aug 16, 19868Win8–0Don FosterTKO1 (6), Jul 12, 19867Win7–0Floyd SimmonsKO2Jun 21, 19866Win6–0Jose GonzalesRTD5 (8)May 24, 19865Win5–0Job WaltersPTS6Apr 12, 19864Win4–0John WesleyTKO1 (4), Apr 3, 19863Win3–0Darrell JacobsUD4Mar 9, 19862Win2–0Ricky WestUD4Mar 2, 19861Win1–0Job WaltersMD4Feb 25, 1986

John John Molina

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