Andrew Moloney recaps triumphant world title eliminator
ANDREW Moloney produced a stunning knockout against Miguel Gonzalez to rubber stamp his world title opportunity.
Fighting on foreign soil in Gonzalez’ home turf of Santiago, Chile, Moloney (now 19-0, 12 KOs) secured his place atop of the World Boxing Association’s super flyweight world ratings.
In a fight that provided toe-to-toe action from the offset, the Australian was controversially down on the scorecards, before delivering a crushing left hook that floored Gonzalez (now 29-2, 6 KOs) in the eighth round.
The concussive hook, which was the final blow after a series of 23 consecutive left hooks, sent his South American counterpart to the canvas.
Despite the heavy knockdown, the referee allowed the game Chilean to rise, before eventually calling the contest with the host in no state to continue.
“Gonzalez was a good fighter, he was better than I thought in honesty and produced a career-best display,” said Moloney in a press release.
“I want to thank his team for giving me the opportunity to come to Chile and fight him. I thought I was going to stop him to the body going in, but the shot [that stopped him] was the shot we had been working on in the gym.
“After a knockdown was scored against me for slipping, I knew I had to take it out of the judges’ hands so I did and I was delighted with the victory.”
With reigning WBA super flyweight titleholder Kal Yafai slated to defend his crown against Norbelto Jiminez, Moloney will now patiently wait for his chance.
“I think both Yafai and Jiminez are good fighters and when they clash it will be a close fight,” he added.
“I feel Yafai has a bit more class and will win the fight, but it will be a really close fight. I definitely want to fight the winner for the world title.
“If the winner unifies or doesn’t want to fight me, I will possibly look to fight in the interim, but I will leave that up to the team. I’m going to have a few weeks rest and then get back in the gym and continue improving for the big opportunities that could be on the horizon.”
Andrew’s bigger twin, Jason, fights this Saturday against Cris Paulino in a WBA affiliated regional title fight, marking his fight appearance since losing to Manny Rodriguez in the World Boxing Super Series.
Having secured his biggest win on the road, Andrew looks forward to supporting his equally talented brother.
“Jason will be looking back to get to winning and I’m fully confident that he will look better than ever,” he concluded.
“He’s been working hard in the gym and he’s had great sparring with the likes of Billel Dib, who is also fighting on the card and has been in good form.
“Jason still has a high world ranking, so hopefully we will both be competing for world titles in 2019 and both of us will be world champions.”
Words: Press Release
Photo: Provided