Franco (18-1-2, 8 KOs) used his superior boxing for all 12 rounds to win the junior bantamweight fight by via unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 116-112) at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Okla. Franco is 2-0, with the no-contest, in their three fights.
The opening round was mostly even when Franco blasted Moloney with a thudding right hand with 15 seconds left and didn’t look back from there. From that point forward, Franco, the aggressor, was quicker to the draw, and landed the harder shots.
The tide of the fight nearly changed at 1:39 of the seventh round, when referee Jack Reiss scored a knockdown for Moloney. When the round concluded, they went to instant replay. It was determined relatively quickly that Moloney missed a right hand and, instead, Franco fell toward the canvas and used his left glove to keep from going down.
The ruling went in Franco’s favor, and the 25-year-old continued to outbox Moloney and run his unbeaten streak to seven (5-0-2), not counting the no-contest.