Joshua Franco retains WBA Regular title with win over Andrew Moloney!
WBA regular super flyweight champion Joshua “El Professor” Franco (17-1-2, 8KOs) and former WBA interim super flyweight champion Andrew “The Monster” Moloney (21-1, 14KOs) will meet for the third consecutive time. This trilogy bout hasn’t been met with tons of anticipation. To be quite honest, their two previous bouts were not anything to write home about.
However, the second bout ended prematurely and with a very questionable ruling. The contest was ruled a no decision after two rounds of action. This came after Franco couldn’t continue due to significant swelling over his right eye. The controversy comes from the ruling that a headbutt was the culprit. Although it was clear after a thirty minute review it was indeed the left jab of Moloney that caused the swelling.
Be as it may, these two will tangle one last time to settle their rivalry. Franco won the first meeting, dropping Moloney in the eleventh round to secure a unanimous decision win back in June of 2020. The winner will walk away with the WBA regular super flyweight title. As for the loser, they’ll be regulated to drawing board status to map out their next move. Moloney is ranked number three in the WBA super flyweight rankings.
Picking up where he left off in the second fight, Moloney came out like a man looking to make a huge statement! His left jab got reacquainted with the face of Franco. Making things worse for the champion was the terrific body work from the Australian. He would rip shots to both sides of his opponent’s body.
After a slow start by Franco, he would turn up the pressure and start landing hard right-hands and right uppercuts. His body work would also start slowing down Moloney, who be relegated to a sitting target at times in the middle portion of the fight.
After a right-hand from Moloney appeared to drop Franco in round seven. Instant replay rightfully ruled that a punch didn’t connect by Moloney on Franco, and instead it was a slip. Franco would really find his groove as the fight went into the later rounds. His pressure and body attack continued to affect Moloney, whose jab disappeared. While Moloney would still let his hands go, the steam on his punches were clearly not the same as they were in the first half of the fight.
After twelve hard fought rounds, Franco would close out this rivalry with another unanimous decision win. The scores were 116-112 (x3).
By: Jerrell Fletcher
