Andrew Moloney is moving in the right direction again.
The junior bantamweight contender, coming off a failed trilogy against Joshua Franco in the U.S., defeated Froilan Saludar by a one-sided unanimous decision in a 10-round bout Tuesday in Sydney, Australia, Moloney’s home country.
The scores were 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92.
Moloney (22-2, 14 KOs) went to America with dreams of becoming a worldwide star but left with an 0-2 record (with one no-contest) in three fights with Franco, who outboxed Moloney in his two victories.
The 30-year-old Aussie was in no danger of suffering the same fate against his Filipino opponent on Tuesday, as Moloney demonstrated that he was the much better all-around fighter from the beginning of the fight.
Moloney outboxed and outworked the former flyweight title challenger to leave no doubts about who would have his hand raised.
The only significant success Saludar (32-5-1, 22 KOs) had was his ability to survive. Moloney, seeking a knockout, had his opponent hurt several times but couldn’t put him away.
Of course, Moloney will take the convincing victory, which puts him back on track toward a shot at a world title.
He’s ranked by three of the four major sanctioning bodies in spite of his setbacks against Franco, which means he’s in the mix. After the fight on Tuesday, he called out WBO 115-pound titleholder Kazuto Ioka, who defends his title against Ryoji Fukunaga on New Year’s Eve.
The disappointments against Franco are fading into the past.
