Andrew Moloney discusses world title eliminator victory in Chile, Kal Yafai and brother Jason Moloney
Andrew Moloney produced a stunning knockout against the tough Chilian Miguel Gonzalez on Gonzelez’ home turf of Santiago, Chile, implementing himself at the top of the World Boxing Association’s world rankings.
In a fight that was toe to toe action from the offset, Moloney, who was controversially down on the scorecards, delivered a crushing left hook to Gonzalez’ chin in the eighth round, sending his South American counterpart to the canvas, in a fashion that prohibited the game Chilean from meeting the referee’s count.
Moloney opened up on his performance and how stoppage victory, “Gonzalez was a good fighter, he was better than I thought in honesty and produced a career-best display and I want to thank his team for giving me the opportunity to come to Chile and fight him, as well as thanking my manager Tony Tolj who had worked tirelessly since AUgust of 2017 to make this fight happen as well as my training team led by Angelo for getting me in top shape for it.
“I thought I was going to stop him to the body going in but the shot that stopped him was the shot we had been working on in the gym and it paid off in great style. After a knockdown was scored against me for slipping, I knew I had to take it out of the judges’ hands so I did and I was delighted with the victory.”
2014 Commonwealth Gold Medalist Moloney now prospectively sits at number 2 in the WBA world rankings, with Kal Yafai and WBA number 1 Norbelto Jiminez possibly potentially clashing on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s IBO, IBF, WBA & WBO title defence at Madison Square Garden against Jarrell Miller.
The 2 weight WBA Oceania belt holder discussed Yafai, Jiminez and his plans for the immediate future, “I think both Yafai and Jiminez are good fighters and when they clash it will be a close fight. I feel Yafai has a bit more class and will win the fight, but it will be a really close fight and I definitely want to fight the winner for the world title.
“If the winner unifies or doesn’t want to fight me I will possibly look to fight in the interim but I will leave that up to the team and I am going to have a few weeks rest and then get back in the gym and continue improving for what big opportunities could be on the horizon.”
The slightly bigger Moloney brother, Jason, fights this Saturday against Cris Paulino at the Seagulls Rugby League Club in Tweets Head, New South Wales for the WBA Oceania Bantamweight title in his first fight since his controversial loss to Emmanuel Rodriguez for the IBF World Bantamweight title.
Andrew gave his take on brother Jason’s chances this coming Saturday evening, “Jason will be looking back to get to winning and I’m fully confident that he will look better than ever against a good fighter in Paulino. He’s been working hard in the gym and he’s had great sparring with the likes of Billel Dib who is also fighting on the card and has been in good form. It’s going to be a good night of boxing and I fully expect explosive performances from Jason and Billel.
“Jason still has a high world ranking, so hopefully we will both be competing for world titles in 2019 and both of us will be world champions and I believe this is a very realistic goal that will come fruition sooner rather than later.”
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This past Saturday at the San Mateo Event Center, Cali Boxing Management’s super bantamweight prospect, Eros Correa (7-0, 6 KOs), remained undefeated with a unanimous decision victory over Zakaria Miri (0-2). Correa goes the distance for the first time in his career, ending his six-fight knockout streak. The fight was promoted by Ambition Empire Promotions.
Correa, who was an alternate on the 2012 US Olympic team, controlled the action from the opening round, using great ring generalship to set up his attack. Miri did his best to counter the combination punching that Correa was displaying, but to no avail. Correa was the aggressor the entire fight and cruised to a unanimous decision. Scorecards read 40-36 across the board all for Correa.
“Being that this was my first time fighting in the Bay Area, where I’m from, I felt I was trying to hard to get the knockout,” said Eros Correa. “I won ever round convincingly, but I felt if I would have settled down a bit, I could have gotten him out of there. It was a great learning experience and now I do believe it’s time for me to move up to six-round bouts. I’m hoping to get back in the ring in next month or early May.
A sizable crowd was there to support Correa, as many of his fans from San Jose, CA, were in attendance.
“Eros’ popularity was evident as about 300 fans from hometown of San Jose showed up,” said Andrew Bocanegra, of Cali Boxing Management. “All though he didn’t get the knockout, he put on a dominating performance for everyone in attendance. We are looking to get him back in the ring sometime in the month of May.”
“Correa showed he can go a full four rounds if needed,” said Jessie Sanchez, of Cali Boxing Management. “In this sport, you’re not going to get the knockout every time you step in the ring, sometime a fighter will have to go the distance. It was a good thing for him to get those needed rounds against a tough opponent, like Miri.”
