By Ian S Palmer
There’s a good world title fight scheduled for this Saturday, August 14th as Andrew Moloney of Australia will once again attempt to reclaim the WBA Junior Bantamweight Crown from Joshua Franco of San Antonio, Texas. The 12-rounder from Tulsa, Oklahoma can be seen live in America on ESPN and ESPN+ while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN 5. This is a rematch of their first brawl in June of last year which Franco won a unanimous decision by scores of 114-113, 114-113 and 115-12 and Moloney suffered two perforated ear drums. A rematch was held in November which saw Franco retain the title after the fight was ruled a no-decision in the second round when Franco claimed he couldn’t continue after suffering a phantom head butt.
Franco enters the ring with a mark of 17-1-2 with 8 Kos and is unbeaten in his last six outings. He’s boxed 125 rounds since turning pro in 2015 after a decent amateur career and has also won the WBA International Bantamweight and NABF Bantamweight Titles since then. He’s best known for his three straight fights with Oscar Negrete in 2018/19 in which he earned a 10-round split decision and fought to two 10-round draws.
Franco’s lone loss came in March, 2018 when he was stopped by Lucas Leone in the ninth round. He stands 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 67-inch reach and has a current knockout ratio of 38.1 per cent. The 25-year-old Franco’s also beaten the likes of Felipe Rivas, Carlos Maldonado, Isao Gonzalo Carranza and Oscar Mojica. Franco has skills, speed, underrated power and above all, is quite entertaining in the ring.
As for Moloney, the 30-year-old native of Mitcham enters the ring with a mark of 21-1 with 14 Kos. He’s boxed 132 rounds since his pro debut in 2014 and has quite a bit of power with a current knockout ratio of 60.9 per cent. He had won four straight fights by stoppage until running into Franco the first time and is the same height as his opponent at 5-feet-5-inches but with a wingspan of 65 inches he gives up two inches in reach.
Since turning pro, Moloney has also captured several Australian, Oceania and Commonwealth belts in the bantamweight and junior bantamweight divisions. Moloney was hoping to land a shot with Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez to unite their titles but Franco derailed those plans. So far, Moloney’s biggest wins have been against the likes of Miguel Gonzalez, Selemani Bangaiza, Luis Concepcion, Rene Dacquel, Aramis Solis and Raymond Tabugon.
Prediction…
The first fight between these two was one of the best of last year with plenty of punches thrown at a high level of speed. Moloney was dropped in the 11th round that was the difference between him losing and retaining his title on the scorecards. He came out like a man possessed in the rematch and most fight fans are still searching for the alleged head butt which caused Franco to claim he couldn’t continue. I have a feeling this bout will be a carbon copy of the first one, meaning it’ll be a treat for the fans, and a tossup. It appeared Moloney was well on his way to reclaiming the title in the rematch and it may be hard for him to replicate that desperation in the ring this weekend. Either boxer can win this but if Moloney is as determined as he was in November I’m going with him.
