Joshua Franco takes the belt from Andrew Moloney!
WBA super flyweight champion Andrew “The Monster” Moloney (211, 14 KO’s) suffered an agonizing upset loss to Joshua “El Professor” Franco (17-1-2, 8 KO’s). The bout was the Australian champion’s first fight in the United States. Clearly, it did not go the way that he had envisioned in his head!
The first half the bout was characterized by more evenly contested action which saw Moloney doing better with movement and Franco excelling at stalking. With the coming of the middle rounds, a tangible shift in the action started taking shape.
After walking away from his trio of prizefights with Oscar “Jaguar” Negrete (19-2-2, 7 KO’s), and only claiming one win against two draws, Franco was hell bent on taking the win tonight. Energized by this mission, El Professor poured that determination into his work rate, which was starting to edge the Monster.
During the eighth and ninth rounds, Moloney looks as if Franco’s withering attack and consistent body assault was causing him to wilt. Things quickly transition from bad to worse in the tenth when the Monster was busted open and began leaking blood rather profusely from his left eye.
In the following period, Moloney found himself roughed up further and then dropped. This would prove to be the difference in the fight!
The champion would display a great deal of grit and determination in order to survive to the final bell. Unfortunately, his brave face could only help him until the final bell. In the end, the scorecards read 114-113 x2 and 115-112 in favor of the underdog.
Franco won a fairly narrow, but nonetheless deserving unanimous victory.
By: Bakari Simpson
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