Making weight would’ve put Joshua Franco’s mind completely at ease under normal circumstances.

Even now that Franco and WBA world super flyweight champion Andrew Moloney met their contractual obligations at their weigh-in Monday, Franco won’t breathe a sigh of relief until Tuesday morning. Such is life fighting inside “The Bubble” in Las Vegas, where results from final COVID-19 tests taken by boxers and their teams aren’t available until the morning they are scheduled to fight.

Franco is mindful of what happened Thursday, when ESPN’s previous main event, Jose Pedraza versus Mikkel LesPierre, was postponed the morning of their 10-round junior welterweight bout because LesPierre’s manager, Josie Taveras, tested positive for COVID-19. In accordance with Nevada State Athletic Commission protocols, the NSAC was required to at least postpone that bout because Taveras came in contact with LesPierre, a southpaw from Brooklyn.

“It’s just crazy because I heard the manager tested negative the day before, and then he tested positive,” Franco told BoxingScene.com. “So, you know, it’s kind of weird, kind of mind-blowing. It just makes you think, ‘Damn! That’s crazy.’ But it is what it is. As long as my team is good, and Andrew Moloney’s team is good, you know, we’ll make sure the fight can go on.”

San Antonio’s Franco came to Las Vegas only with his head trainer, Robert Garcia, and Franco’s father, Jesse Rodriguez, both of whom will work his corner for the Moloney match. They all took their final pre-fight COVID-19 tests after the weigh-in Monday afternoon at MGM Grand Conference Center, where the five-fight card will take place Tuesday night.

The last thing Franco would want is for his first world title shot to get postponed.

“I’m concerned, but I’m making sure everything’s good with my team, you know, everybody’s staying healthy,” Franco said. “Everybody has to be careful because one little thing could mess everything up. They’re being real strict in Vegas. For this fight to fall through, it would really suck. You’ve gotta make sure everybody’s good on my team, and everybody’s good on his team as well.”

Handicappers have made the 29-year-old Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs) a 9-1 favorite over Franco (16-1-2, 8 KOs).

“He’s a tough, undefeated fighter,” Franco said. “He doesn’t back down. He’s a world champ for a reason. He has that belt for a reason. He’s gonna fight all 12 rounds hard.”

Franco feels like a more capable challenger at 115 pounds than he did when he competed at bantamweight, the 118-pound division in which he battled Colombia’s Oscar Negrete in three consecutive fights from October 2018 until last August 10.

“I just feel like I’m stronger at 115,” Franco said. “I feel like at 118, I wasn’t that strong. But moving a little bit down in weight, it helped me a lot. I feel like I have the advantage, and my power and my size is different.”

Franco’s frustration from winning only one of those three fights against Negrete (19-2-2, 7 KOs) hasn’t made him lose sight of what he learned during those 30 rounds in which they went at each other. The 24-year-old contender learned how to remain poised while going 1-0-2 in those bouts and gained confidence from facing the best opponent he has encountered before tonight.

“Coming off of those fights, of course I wanted to come back big,” Franco said. “I learned a lot from those fights, so capturing a world title would mean a lot not only to me, but to my family. We’re all in this together, so that’s the goal.

“I’m very excited. I’m blessed for the opportunity to be in an ESPN main event, for a world title. That’s stuff that I dreamed about when I was coming up as an amateur. It’s finally here, and I can’t wait to just go out there, put on a good show and get that belt.”

The Moloney-Franco fight will headline ESPN’s five-fight telecast Tuesday night. The show will start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT with a 10-round featherweight bout that’ll pit Puerto Rico’s Christopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KOs) against Jason Sanchez (15-1, 8 KOs), of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.