‘Twenty years, down to three minutes’: Moloney triumphs
Murray Wenzel |
Andrew Moloney had flashbacks to a heartbreaking 2020 title loss as he feared another boxing robbery in the moments before the Australian’s arm was raised as world champion again in Japan.
The Kingscliff talent won the last round of a 12-round war with champion Willibaldo Garcia in Aichi on Saturday to claim the IBF super flyweight world title with a narrow majority decision.
Two judges gave him the verdict by the same score, 115-113, while the other one had it level at 114-114.
Mandatory challenger Moloney had knocked back almost $350,000 to step aside and instead take on the Mexican champion, collecting barely a fifth of that sum for the chance to claim the belt.
The 35-year-old Moloney had sensationally quit the sport two years ago after a controversial loss to Pedro Guevara in Perth in which he also tore his bicep off the bone.
But he reversed his call and, after surgery and two bounce-back wins, has been rewarded with a second world title strap, two decades after the Commonwealth Games champion began fighting as an amateur.
Moloney estimates he collected no more than $8000 in prizemoney in the last year before this victory and wasted more than $20,000 while based in Mexico last year preparing for a farcical world title eliminator that never went ahead.
“There’s been even more hurdles than what people know about,” Moloney, who turned professional in 2014, told AAP.
“Heartbreaks after disappointments, but I kept that drive.
“I’ve been on the end of some tough decisions and so much heartbreak and I thought as the scores were being read out, ‘Oh no, it’s going to be a split decision to him, or a draw’.
“I lost my (WBA) world title to Joshua Franco by one round (in 2020) and had flashbacks to that.
“You lose belief in the sport, I felt they would take it off me. Then they raised my hand and I don’t even know what happened after that.”
An accidental head clash caused a cut over Moloney’s left eye in the second round and the pair engaged in close-range warfare before the Australian steadied to win the decisive final round.
Moloney had slept at his trainer Angelo Hyder’s gym for the month leading up to his fight, away from family, friends and his business in an attempt to remove all distractions.
Hyder, Danny Green’s long-term trainer before linking with Andrew and twin brother Jason – himself a recently dethroned bantamweight world champion – said this victory ranked among the sweetest.
“Twenty years of boxing came down to three minutes – we had to win the last round to win the fight,” Hyder told AAP.
“To snap a bicep clean off at 33, rebuild it, come back and have the faith and go to Mexico, have that pulled out from under him, it cost him $20,000.
“There were times he couldn’t make his repayments on his home. He stuck at it, we believed in him and it’s up there with anything we’ve done.
“In Perth, what a disgrace, that decision (against Guevara). That was heartbreaking, it took him right to the edge.
“But we found a way. He stuck at it.”
Mobbed by Japanese fans as he attempted to leave the arena – security eventually ushered him through almost two hours after the fight – the Australian could fight twice more in the country this year before his mandatory obligations are due to be met.
AAP