Andrew Moloney Sets Sights On World Tour And Kal Yafai's Title

By Jake Donovan

Andrew Moloney hit the road in order to become a mandatory title challenger and knows that a trip to either the United States or the United Kingdom is in his future for his first career title fight. 

With that came great anticipation for his first fight back in Australia in nine months, even if the night didn’t quite produce his desired goal.

“I trained extremely hard for that fight,” noted Moloney (20-0, 13KOs), following an anti-climactic 2nd round stoppage of Tanzania’s Selemani Bangaiza this past June in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia. “It wasn’t the opponent we lined up for this fight.”

Moloney was due to face Mexico’s Ruben Montoya on the show, sharing the bill with twin brother Jason for the 16th time in their respective careers. It was their first card together since last May, along with the respective debuts with Top Rank, although both suffered the same fate heading into fight week. Both of their originally scheduled opponents from Mexico withdrawing from the card and being replaced by lesser foes from Tanzania. 

Jason was able to go a bit deeper into the evening and also get in more work in a clean knockout of Goodluck Mrema in the 3rd round of their bantamweight heat. Andrew’s night ended one round earlier but while barely breaking a sweat. Bangaiza sought the exit the moment he tasted Moloney’s power, literally spitting out his mouthpiece in surrender. 

It’s not the memory sought by the unbeaten super flyweight in what will likely be his last home game for a while. His next order of business, he hopes, will be a mandatory title fight versus England’s Kal Yafai, whose latest title defense came two weeks after Moloney’s win.

Yafai (26-0, 15KOs) struggled in a 12-round win over Dominican Repbublic’s Norbelto Jimenez, suffering a ruptured eardrum along with plenty of other battle scars in the scrappy affair. Rest and relaxation is in store for the unbeaten titlist before his next fight which he believes will be a unification bout with World 115-pound champion Juan Francisco Estrada. 

Moloney and his team—including longtime manager Tony Tolj—plan to challenge that claim. An 8th round knockout of Miguel Gonzalez in their title eliminator this past March on the road in Chile came with the promise from the World Boxing Association (WBA) that the winner would be assured next up after Yafai’s overdue mandatory defense versus Jimenez.

The unbeaten contender plans to hold the sanctioning body to its word, no matter where in the world they have to travel to make hit happen. 

“Jason and I are likely heading to the United States after this,” Moloney noted of his likely immediate future, conceding that Yafai holds leverage in terms of dictating where such a fight will take place. “But I promise we will be coming home as world champions and putting Australia back on the map.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox