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Jason and Andrew Moloney are coming to America

Andrew and Jason Moloney. Photo credit: Ryan Songalia
Fighters Network
18
Jun

On Saturday, Jason and Andrew Moloney both won stay busy fights in their homeland of Australia. The wins set the twins up for bigger business in the coming months having signed with American promotional powerhouse Top Rank in mid-May.

Jason, who is rated No. 6 by The Ring at 118 pounds, stayed on course for a much bigger fight when he knocked out Goodluck Mrema in three rounds.

Andrew, who is rated No. 7 by The Ring at 115 pounds, did his part with a second-round stoppage after his opponent Selemani Bangaiza retired at 1:57 of the second round.

With both safely navigating their way past their opponents on a warm evening in Tweed Head, it may be awhile before they fight at home again.



“It was really great to fight again in front of my home crowd,” Jason (19-1, 16 knockouts) told The Ring.

“Unfortunately we had a late change in opponent and I didn’t get to have the hard fight I wanted to have. I didn’t really get the chance to showcase what I am capable of. I’m still happy to walk away with another win and take another step closer to becoming world champion.

“I’m really excited to now start the next chapter of my career with Top Rank. My next fight will be in America, most likely around August, and we are hopeful that it may be for a world title.

“The WBA title has just become vacant and I would love the chance to fight the No. 1 ranked Liborio Solis. Hopefully we are able to make this fight happen.”

Andrew shares his brother’s excitement about getting the opportunity to fight in America and eagerly awaits his first world title shot.

His own harshest critic, Andrew (20-0, 13 KOs) wasn;t overly impressed by his most recent performance.

“The fight didn’t go exactly how I would have liked as I didn’t get a chance to show the huge improvements I have made in the gym,” he said.

“My opponent felt my power and wanted out of the fight. The positive in the situation is I came out of the fight still fresh, with no injuries and I can get back into the gym on Monday and start working towards my next fight which I hope will be for the WBA junior bantamweight title.”

Their handler, Tony Tolj, who brokered the deal with Top Rank, was kept very busy in the run up to this show. Rarely do we hear of the mechanics behind a fight, we just see the end product.

Tolj had to endure several sleepless nights and changes of opponents before finally working things out.

“This was one if the most difficult events I’ve been part of in my 20 years in the pro game,” Tolj openly admitted. “I meticulously search for great matches for the fans. I have gone through 10 separate visas on this occasions. We have Mexican warriors who were set to come and ready for war. Unfortunately they neglected to mention their past history to myself, our Mexican agent and also our migration agent.

“This news was dropped on us with less than two week’s notice. This visa process is lengthy and stringent, rightly so. I then secured an excellent Filipino match for Andrew, then 48 hours later, the Filipino was bedridden with Bronchitis. I then managed to secure the Tanzanian boxers for Andrew and Jason. I had gone to bed at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 7 a.m. and 5 a.m.

“All due to the time difference to secure all the necessary migration documents. All the while also, arranging TV production, matchmaking, travel, graphics, event staff, media. Main thing is we got the fight over the line and the two boys have had their going away party before heading over for to the United States for their U.S. debuts.”

 

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @AnsonWainwright

 

 

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