Andrew Moloney set to appeal Franco rematch
THE representatives of Andrew Moloney have started the elongated process of appealing the ill-fated rematch with Joshua Franco.
Moloney (21-1,14 KOs) was robbed of revenge and the WBA super flyweight crown on Sunday afternoon, after farcical scenes in Las Vegas, which resulted in a no decision result.
The controversial outcome will be immediately appealed by the Australian, as revealed by leading broadcaster Ben Damon on Fox Sports News.
“We’re now in a situation where Andrew Moloney should be a two-time world champion. Instead, he’s heartbroken and he’s been absolutely robbed,” said Damon.
“Andrew Moloney went over there and did everything he could possibly do to win this fight. He did win it, and he’s been absolutely rorted by some absolute incompetence, from some officials who really their place in the sport has to be questioned after what we saw in Las Vegas.
“For whatever reason, they went on a hunt to try and find a reason that they could say that the referee’s original judgement was the correct one.
“They didn’t find it, but they just said they did anyway. They watched that whole first round, about six or seven times, to try and find these head clashes that simply didn’t exist… there’s certainly no way that it was the head that caused the damage that stopped the fight.
“Ultimately, what they did is try and find the reason that they could say that their referee Russell Mora had done the right thing.”
The drawn-out aftermath of the result, which included extensive discussions between referee Russell Mora, Robert Byrd, promoter Bob Arum and NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett, is at the centre of argument, given their deliberation across multiple replays, only to stick with the original call from Mora.
This was highlighted by Damon, who explained the first step of an appeal process for Moloney, starting with a meeting with Top Rank founder and CEO, Bob Arum.
“Well now there’s an appeal process, but this is boxing, so that’s convoluted,” he continued.
“They will ultimately go to meet with Bob Arum on Monday Las Vegas time… he’s fuming as well, because he is the promoter of Andrew Moloney. He should have another world champion as we speak.
“They’ll get into the process of appealing to the Nevada State Athletic Commission about what has been done. That will be difficult to get them to overturn the decision, when it was so abundantly clear that they were happy to make the wrong decision in the first place.”
A concurrent scenario is a mirrored appeal process with the WBA, who could potentially sanction a rematch on their side, or perhaps strip the Texas-based Franco (17-1-2, 8 KOs) of his super flyweight title.
“The WBA, they’ll also be involved, so they could mandate a rematch,” Damon concluded.
“They could if they wanted to, say Andrew Moloney is now the world champion. They’re unlikely to do that, the situation is murky.
“Ultimately, they’re not going to be able to make Andrew Moloney a world champion, you wouldn’t think. He completely deserves to be today.”
Photo: Getty Images
