LAS VEGAS – Joshua Franco couldn’t see out of his several swollen right eye Saturday night.

Referee Russell Mora and the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s replay team couldn’t see evidence to render his rematch with Andrew Moloney anything other than a no-contest. Mora is certain he witnessed an accidental clash of heads in the first round that caused that damage to Franco’s face.

Andrew Moloney’s team claimed that one of his punches caused that swelling during the first round. Mora’s decision was not overturned by the NSAC’s replay team, however, thus their 115-pound championship rematch resulted in a no-contest on the Terence Crawford-Kell Brook undercard at MGM Grand Conference Center.

NSAC replay official Robert Byrd and NSAC executive director Bob Bennett took more than four times longer than the fight lasted to carefully review ESPN’s footage of the first round.

Had Mora determined that one of Moloney’s punches left Franco’s eye swollen shut or the NSAC overturned his ruling based on the replay, Moloney would’ve won by technical knockout. Instead, Franco retained the title he won from Moloney in his previous fight.

ESPN’s replay seemingly showed that a stiff jab by Moloney initiated that significant swelling, yet Moloney left the ring without the WBA world super flyweight title he had hoped to regain from Franco.

“I seen it,” Moloney told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna after exiting the ring. “I hit him with a jab early in the first round … and I hit him another 50 times. That’s why his eye’s shut, not the head-butt. There’s not a head-butt. … I can’t believe they took this away from me. I trained my ass off for the last five months, I’ve been away from my family, and they just take it away from me like this.”

The controversial conclusion to their immediate rematch likely will lead to a third bout between San Antonio’s Franco (17-1-2, 8 KOs, 1 NC) and Australia’s Moloney (21-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC). Franco upset Moloney by a 12-round unanimous decision to win the WBA world 115-pound championship June 23 at MGM Grand Conference Center.

The 29-year-old Moloney entered that bout as a 9-1 favorite, but Franco dropped him in the 11th round and won their competitive, entertaining 12-rounder on all three scorecards. Judges Julie Lederman (115-112), Dave Moretti (114-113) and Patricia Morse Jarman (114-113) scored that fight for Franco, which means the knockdown was the difference between Franco winning and their bout resulting in a majority draw.

On Saturday night, a ringside physician took a close look at Franco’s right eye before he would  allow the third round to begin. Once Franco informed the NSAC doctor that he couldn’t see, their scheduled 12-round bout was stopped.

Mora called for a break in the action with 1:45 to go in the second round, so that a ringside physician could look at the severe swelling surrounding Franco’s right eye.

Franco landed an overhand right with just over a minute to go in the second round. Moloney snuck a left hook around Franco’s guard with about 15 seconds remaining in the second round.

Moloney threw a lot of punches during the first round, when he landed three body shots with just under a minute to go in it. An accidental head-butt earlier in the opening round caused some significant swelling around Franco’s right eye.

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