Andrew Moloney continues to put distance behind him and his unsuccessful trilogy with Joshua Franco.
The Aussie junior bantamweight had his way with California-based journeyman Gilberto Mendoza in their scheduled eight-round 115-pound bout, eventually scoring a late stoppage in the final round Saturday night at The Hanger in Costa Mesa, California, on the undercard of the Mikaela Mayer-Jennifer Han women’s WBO/IBF junior lightweight title unification bout.
With about 30 seconds left in the eighth and final round, Moloney landed a left-right-left combination that forced referee Jerry Cantu to stop the bout, much to the dismay of Mendoza, who was obviously hoping to at least go the distance.
The official time of stoppage was 2:29.
Applying educated pressure throughout the bout, Moloney had Mendoza backpedalling and fighting an uphill battle. Mendoza had no answer for Moloney’s body punches and short punches to the chin in the pocket.
Moloney improves to 23-2 (15 knockouts), while Mendoza drops to 19-12-3 (10 KOs)
It was the second straight win for Moloney after spending two years involved exclusively with WBA 115-pound titlist Joshua Franco, who beat Moloney twice and drew once.
His latest win may earn him a spot on the undercard of the upcoming undisputed lightweight title bout between Devin Haney (WBC) and George Kambosos (WBO, WBA, IBF) June 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Moloney came out of the corner at the opening bell charging at Mendoza, while working behind a crisp jab. A minute into the round, Moloney connected on a sharp three-punch combination. Mendoza later returned the favor with a right cross.
Moloney opened up a cut on Mendoza in the third round, courtesy of a hard jab. Moloney followed up with some strafing straight rights and hooks. Toward the end of the round, Mendoza connected on a right hand of his own that momentarily slowed down Moloney’s offense.
In the fourth round, Moloney continued to walk Mendoza down and land seemingly at will. Mendoza continued to throw back, but his punches sailed past their target. The crafty Moloney continued to land short right hands, including one that seemed to buzz Mendoza at the end of the round.
Mendoza was able to land his right hand a few times in the fifth round, but they were isolated moments. Moloney controlled the pace, ending the round decisively with a left to the body followed by an overhand right.
Moloney turned it up in the sixth round. The Aussie battered Mendoza to the body and continued to land the left hook on Mendoza’s cut. Mendoza looked defeated as he returned to his corner at the bell.
It was more of the same in the penultimate round. An outmatched Mendoza, to his credit, never stopped punching even as Moloney drilled him with one well-timed punch after another. Moloney, once again, focused his arsenal on Mendoza’s body.
