Andrew Moloney is not sulking after losing two of his most recent fights. Instead, he is headed back to the ring in hopes of again fighting for a world title belt.

Moloney, who is ranked No. 9 by The Ring, will face Froilan Saludar on December 9, manager Tony Tolj confirmed to The Ring Sunday night. The 10-round bout will take place at the Entertainment Center in Newcastle, Australia and will air live on FOX Sports Australia and ESPN+ to the United States.

Andrew Moloney is not sulking after losing two of his most recent fights. Instead, he is headed back to the ring in hopes of again fighting for a world title belt.

Moloney, who is ranked No. 9 by The Ring, will face Froilan Saludar on December 9, manager Tony Tolj confirmed to The Ring Sunday night. The 10-round bout will take place at the Entertainment Center in Newcastle, Australia and will air live on FOX Sports Australia and ESPN+ to the United States.

December 9 will mark a homecoming for Moloney (21-2 1 ND, 14 knockouts), who resides in Kingscliff. It will mark Moloney’s first fight in his homeland in two years, when he stopped Elton Dharry after round 8.

Moloney last fought on August 14, losing to Joshua Franco, who is currently ranked No. 5 by The Ring, by unanimous decision. Their first fight took place on June 23 of last year, a fight that saw Moloney do well in the opening rounds before Franco took control of the action in round 4. Franco would drop Moloney in round 11 en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Sandwiched between the two losses was a controversial no-decision, in which the fight was stopped in round 2 due a cut above the right eye of Franco. The outcome was a no-decision because it was ruled an accidental clash of heads caused the cut, but Moloney’s team believes a punch opened the cut, thus losing out on a knockout win.

Despite the recent setbacks, Moloney remains optimistic a couple of impressive victories would put him back into a world title shot.

“I’m looking forward to getting back in the ring,” said Moloney at Monday morning’s press conference. “I want to redeem myself and start my journey back to become a world champion and that starts on December 9.

“I’m devastated by the outcomes of the (Franco) fights. I do feel like I’ve learned a lot. I want to show what I’ve learned. I still feel like I’ve let myself down in those fights. I’m going to be a much more aggressive fighter. I’ve been more-technical in my recent performances. I’m going to go back to being the aggressive fighter I once was.”

The 30-year-old Moloney is the twin brother of former world bantamweight title challenger Jason.

Saludar (32-4-1, 22 KOs), who resides in Cagayan de Oro City in the Philippines, challenged then-WBO flyweight titleholder Sho Kimura in July 2018, losing by knockout in round 6.

The 32-year-old has since four of his last five bouts. In his last bout on March 17, Saludar defeated journeyman Reymark Taday over eight one-sided rounds.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing