Andrew Moloney (left) hooks Pedro Guevara – Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rankings
Few people were more disappointed than Andrew Moloney when Kosei Tanaka lost his WBO super flyweight belt Monday night to Phumelele Cafu at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The veteran Australian competitor, 33, had hoped to get Tanaka into the lucrative Japanese market.
Those dreams were dashed when South Africa’s Cafu put on the performance of a lifetime, dropping Tanaka in the fifth round and finishing the fight strong to defeat the four-weight world champion via split decision.
“The plan was to target the WBO and really push that Tanaka fight, but it all fell apart on Monday night,” Moloney (26-4-1NC, 16 KOs) told The Ring. “I think the WBO is probably still the direction we’ll go, but I’m not too sure if they have a rematch clause or if Tanaka will go for it. But after watching last night’s fight, I would be very confident to face one of those guys and come out victorious. This is the way we would like to go.
“I would have liked to fight Tanaka in Japan, when he was a four-division world champion. He’s definitely someone I’ve looked up to and wanted to fight for a long time now.
“It was a little hard to watch last night. The way he performed, I’m even more confident than ever that I have what it takes to beat Tanaka.
“I assume they’ll have a rematch and hopefully Tanaka gets that belt back and I can get back in the ring and climb that ranking and maybe that fight will still happen on the court.”
Tanaka moved into Moloney’s orbit four years ago when he made his debut at 115 pounds. Earlier this year they also appeared to be on a collision course, with Moloney ranked number one by the WBO. But when an offer was made to fight on the undercard of the vacant IBF lightweight title fight between Vasiliy Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr in Perth, Western Australia in May, Moloney felt he couldn’t turn it down.
That decision ended in disaster. Moloney was matched up with Carlos Cuadras, who withdrew from the game with a ruptured Achilles tendon and was replaced by Pedro Guevara. Moloney entered the bout with a torn biceps and was largely reduced to one-handed boxing, which limited his punching output.
Still, Moloney felt he did more than enough to win and was shocked when Guevara was announced as the winner by split decision. He was so disappointed that he announced his retirement from the ring immediately after the fight, but days later walked back those comments.
It was a sliding door moment in his career.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but watching the Tanaka-Cafu fight made me think that maybe I would have done things if I could rewind time a bit,” explains Moloney.
“I was number one in the WBO before my last fight and I threw away the possibility of waiting for the Tanaka fight. But the opportunity to fight Guevara on a big card in Australia for the WBC Interim title came up and to be honest I kind of took my time and rushed it with the Tanaka fight hanging in the balance , but we finally decided to stay busy and take that opportunity to fight in Australia.
“Also having the injury in the fight was another thing that I threw up in my mind, I get surgery and keep that number one spot and wait for Tanaka, but I made the decision to go into the Guevara fight to go Looking back, maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to do. And watching Tanaka fight last night made me think that maybe I should have waited. I’m very confident that I would have beaten Tanaka and taken that belt from him.
“So I’m kicking myself a bit, but unfortunately you can’t go back in time.”
It’s been a frustrating year for Moloney, but he’s continued to grind away in the gym as his team works to get him his next fight. The window of opportunity to box again this year is fast closing, but he remains hopeful of returning to the ring in December, most likely in his native Australia.
“I really hope so,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been working on. I’ve been training hard in the gym for a while, a good few months. I hope to get out again before the end of the year.
“At this stage it will probably have to be December. I’m trying hard to get something locked, but no luck yet. I’m still training away like a fight is going to happen in December and I’ve got the team working on it right now and fingers crossed we can get it over the line.
“I just hope we can come out before the end of the year and get back into the winner’s circle and start climbing back up that ranking.”
Moloney, who campaigned as a bantamweight for the first three years of his professional career before dropping down to super flyweight, surprisingly said he would even consider moving down another weight class for the right opportunity.
“It’s a tough time in the super flyweight division,” said Moloney, The Ring’s No.8 contender at 115 pounds. “There is a lot going on and it is always difficult to plan which route to take as things change so quickly. I’d give Bam Rodriguez to beat Guevara, then there’s talk of Kazuto Ioka and Fernando Martinez who apparently have a rematch on New Year’s Eve. And then there is talk of Bam, if he wins, fighting the winner of that match in a unification. The WBO seems like the fastest route to a title shot to me, so that’s the way we’ll go.
“We’ve also had the idea for a while to maybe go to flyweight and have a crack at it. Japan also has a bit of a scene going on there at the moment, but it’s still up in the air. I’d probably be a bit more comfortable at super flyweight but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with Cafu and Tanaka but like I said I’d be comfortable and confident facing either of them so hopefully we will be able to make it happen sooner rather than later.”
