Adrien Broner vs. John Molina: Winner, Scorecard and Analysis

In the debut bout from NBC's Premier Boxing Champions series, Adrien "The Problem" Broner (30-1, 22 KOs) cruised to a decision victory over John Molina Jr. (27-6, 22 KOs).

ESPN Boxing provided a look at the scorecards:

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Adrien Broner wins a unanimous decision (120-108, 120-108, 118-110) over John Molina Jr. #PBC

— ESPN Boxing (@ESPNBoxing) March 8, 2015"

Boxing's return to prime-time network television had all the makings of a monumental occasion, with the likes of Marv Albert, Al Michaels and Sugar Ray Leonard on hand. However, the bout itself lacked action and was rather anticlimactic.

Broner outclassed and outworked Molina for 12 rounds of the junior welterweight bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The prizefighter from Cincinnati was much more active than Molina throughout the entire bout, avoiding Molina's strong right hand and utilizing his excellent foot speed to dart in for quick-strike combinations and score points.

Molina was unable to drum up much excitement in this bout, although he did land a few excellent overhand rights early on. CompuBox gave a look at the huge disparity in punches landed after the bout:

Molina has now lost three bouts in a row in disappointing fashion. The bout marks Broner's third straight victory, further removing him from his disappointing decision loss to Marcos Maidana in December 2013.

In what was perhaps a signal of things to come, the fighters' entrances to the ring were noticeably barren, stripped of all excesses, per ESPN.com's Dan Rafael:

These two purveyors of the sweet science took their sweet time getting the action going. Few punches were landed in the first round, with both men trying to suss out the other's strategy and wary of each other's power.

Broner was a bit more aggressive, but the paucity of punches drew jeers from the crowd, per ESPN Boxing:

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R1: Crowd boos as Broner, Molina paw with their jabs until the bell.

— ESPN Boxing (@ESPNBoxing) March 8, 2015"

The Problem pushed the pace a bit more in the second and third rounds, pawing with the jab and stringing together punches before darting out of the way of Molina's counters. However, the 32-year-old Molina did well to sting Broner with a few solid shots from his heavy right hand.

A crushing combination that started with an overhand right to Broner's chin as the third round came to an end drew a huge response from the crowd, but Broner seemed to absorb the blow and remained rooted to his spot in the ring.

NBC Sports provided a look at the action:

UCNLive.com's Steve Kim felt Molina needed to trust his right hand and go back to that weapon:

Broner came right back in the fourth round, lining up his shots and using his excellent hand speed to sneak past Molina's defenses, but few of those blows appeared to faze his opponent. Molina landed another hard shot from his right just as the fourth ended.

Broner was clearly wary of Molina's one-handed power, and ESPN Boxing noted in the the fifth that he tailored his style to avoiding those haymakers:

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ROUND 5: Broner doing well to control distance and avoid Molina's right hand. Nice uppercut on the inside from Broner.

— ESPN Boxing (@ESPNBoxing) March 8, 2015"

The 25-year-old Broner dominated the sixth and seventh rounds, vastly outworking and outpunching Molina. A blindingly quick three-punch combo punctuated by an uppercut inside midway through the sixth highlighted the two frames.

Perhaps emboldened by his success in the earlier rounds, Broner upped the frequency of his forays into Molina's range while deftly avoiding his wild counterpunches.

NBC Sports provided a look at flurry from the end of the seventh:

The MGM Grand crowd was certainly unmoved by the one-way traffic, per Bad Left Hook's Tom Craze:

Showtime's Al Bernstein noted Molina had abandoned a crucial component of his early successes:

Harry How/Getty Images

The eighth and ninth rounds of the fight seemed to feature more trash-talking and holding than actual boxing. Broner clearly knew he was in complete control of the fight, dancing around his opponent and settling for scoring points on pop shots and quick combinations.

Molina appeared resigned to stealing this fight with his right hand, but his only true chance would come on a furious exchange of blows at the end of the 10th round. Broner appeared to have gotten the better of that exchange, thanks to a solid overhand right.

Craze wasn't crazy about the bout:

Broner cruised through the final two rounds and was content to dance away from Molina as the 12th round came to a close instead of risking a knockout blow.

Broner's speed, vicious combinations and willingness to play to the crowd should keep him in the running for future prime-time bouts. With three wins in a row, Broner may have finally put the Maidana loss behind him and should be back on his ascent to the top of the junior welterweight and pound-for-pound ranks.

As for Molina, his overly cautious display likely won't notch him too many more featured bouts in the future. He was completely overmatched on Saturday night, and his career is at a low point with three straight losses and a poor display in a new, prime-time boxing venture.