Oscar Molina, left, takes a right cross from Jarrett Hurd during their fight Saturday in Brooklyn/Photo by Ryan Greene, Premier Boxing Champions
It was good for Oscar Molina of Norwalk to get some national television exposure. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t take advantage of it.
Molina this past Saturday faced another undefeated junior middleweight – Jarrett Hurd – underneath the welterweight title fight between Keith “One Time” Thurman and Shawn Porter, won by Thurman via narrow decision at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (on CBS).
A victory would have been the biggest of Molina’s career, but he was stopped in the 10th round by Hurd. Molina didn’t agree with the stoppage. But he was well behind on the scorecards, so he wasn’t going to win, anyway, unless he somehow managed to stop Hurd in that final round.
“I felt like Hurd was throwing a lot of punches in the 10th round, but they weren’t really hurting me,” Molina said. “He was staying busy, but he was never really hurting me.”
Molina was decked in the first round. He said he wasn’t in trouble then, either.
“I went low and I had my head down and he caught me with that uppercut in the first round,” said Molina, 26. “He got me with a shot I wasn’t expecting, but it was definitely a flash knockdown. I wasn’t hurt.”
Molina blamed himself for not being able to figure out Hurd’s defense, thus resulting in Molina smothering his own punches. He vowed to return in better form.
“This was a big opportunity for me and I felt like I fought a good fight,” he said. “I’m going to come back stronger. We’re going to work on a lot of things and get back in there.”
Molina is now 13-1-1. Hurd, of Accokeek, Md., is 18-0 with 12 knockouts.
