Australia’s Moloney Twins Keep on Truckin’

The Moloney twins, Australia’s answer to the Charlo twins, kept their careers on track today in Melbourne, winning their respective bouts to move one step closer to world title opportunities. Andrew Moloney overcame adversity to turn away rugged Elton Dharry in a bout billed for the “interim” WBA super flyweight title. Jason Moloney, a bantamweight, routed Nicaragua’s Dixon Flores who fell in the second round. The fights aired on ESPN+.

The twins, who were profiled on these pages in February of last year, signed multi-year contractual agreements with Top Rank in May. That may ultimately entail shifting their headquarters to Las Vegas.

Andrew Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs) twice represented Australia in the Commonwealth Games, winning gold as a flyweight in 2014. He entered today’s bout ranked #1 at 118 pounds by the WBA whose champion is England’s Khalid Yafai. But he almost came a cropper in the fifth frame when Dharry (24-6-1) had him hurt, seemingly busting Andrew’s eardrum which impacted his equilibrium. Andrew hung on, surviving the round, and was credited with a TKO at the .01 mark of round 9 when the ring doctor stopped the contest after the eighth.

Dharry, 33, entered the match having won 21 straight, but the Brooklyn-based fighter, who turned pro in his native Guyana, was yet largely unknown. But he came to fight and may have sprung the upset if his right eye hadn’t been damaged early in the fight. It eventually reduced him to a one-eyed fighter and the ring doctor, after several looks, decided it was best to call it off. It was a gallant performance that enhanced his profile and likely portends several more good paydays.

Unlike his sibling, Jason Moloney (20-0, 17 KOs) has already fought in the United States. In October of last year, he lost a split decision to defending IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez in Orlando. That knocked him out of the World Boxing Super Series which in hindsight perhaps wasn’t so bad as it kept him away from Naoya Inoue.

Dixon Flores (16-7-3) had been matched tough throughout his career. He had previously been stopped by Carlos Cuadras, Khalid Yafai, and Juan Navarette. He was no match for Jason Moloney who knocked him to his knees twice in the opening round and took him out in the second.

Of the two 28-year-old brothers, Top Rank honcho Bob Arum may have been more enamored of Jason Moloney, notwithstanding that blemish on his record. That’s because as an amateur, Jason defeated Arum’s Irish pet Michael Conlan.

Conlan, who now competes as a featherweight, is on a collision course with Vladimir Nikitin, the Russian that controversially outpointed him at the Olympic Summer Games in Rio. They are tentatively scheduled to meet on Dec. 14 at Madison Square Garden underneath Terence Crawford’s WBO welterweight title defense against Egidijus Kavaliauskas. If Conlan, as expected, avenges his loss to Nikitin, will Jason Moloney, who has fought as high as 124, be next on Conlan’s shopping list?

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