Andrew Moloney promises a different result when he fights Joshua Franco a second time on the Terence Crawford-Kell Brook card Saturday in Las Vegas.
Franco rallied in the later rounds to defeat Moloney by a close unanimous decision on June 23 in the MGM Grand “bubble,” putting the Aussie down in Round 11 to seal his victory.
Moloney felt dizzy and vomited after returning to his dressing room. He was later taken to a hospital, where it was determined that he suffered two perforated eardrums in the fight
“It’s been public knowledge that both of my eardrums were perforated in that first fight,” Moloney said. “Look, I don’t want to make excuses, but it did affect my performance. My balance was affected quite a lot. It affected me from fighting at my best.
“But, look, he won the fight. There’s no excuses. I want to go into this fight and show that I’m much better than I was this first time around and win this rematch and put that behind me.”
Moloney (21-1, 14 KOs) performed as billed in the first half of the fight, outboxing Franco (17-1-2, 8 KOs) to build a lead on two of three cards. However, Franco landed more and more damaging punches as the fight progressed.
The knockdown turned out to be the clincher for Franco, who won 115-112, 114-113 and 114-113. Had Moloney remained on his feet in Round 11, the fight would’ve ended in a majority draw.
Moloney says he’ll leave no doubt in the rematch.
“You’re going to see a much different performance from myself, a different game plan this time around, and I believe a much more dominant performance,” he said.
“I can’t give too much away, obviously, in terms of the tactics, but it will be a different fight this time around, and I believe a much more dominant performance from myself.”
Meanwhile, Franco is confident after his victory the first time around. The San Antonio fighter has won two consecutive fights since a draw that capped his three-fight series with Oscar Negrete.
“I feel confident because I’ve been in the ring with Andrew Moloney before,” Franco said. “I know what he has. I’m always confident, of course. My training went well. I had a tough training camp, and that also brings my confidence up. I’m just ready for whatever.”
“Very tough preparation in the gym. Eight hard weeks of training. I’m more than ready.”
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