As a former world champion and current 115-pound contender, Andrew Moloney is obviously very good at a lot of things in his chosen profession. What he’s not so good at is retirement.
“Yeah, it was a brief retirement, very brief,” laughed the Victoria native, who will face Jakrawut Majungoen at the Melbourne Pavilion on December 15. It was his first start since announcing his retirement from the sport following a split-decision loss to Pedro Guevara in May.
Tarr’s retirement didn’t even last long enough for him to even pull out his rocking chair and spend some peaceful days on the porch, but that was understandable at the time because, frankly, boxing isn’t like other sports, scoring More than other sports. Your opponent means you win the game. In boxing, there are no hard and fast scoring standards (at least not ones that are universally adhered to), so each referee sees things very differently and scores fights accordingly. So when Moloney felt he had beaten Guevara but was not recognized, he was tired of the sport and wanted to give up.
“That’s why I lost my temper that night and announced my retirement, because I also made a lot of bad decisions, things didn’t go my way and had bad luck in this game,” he said. “So it really starts to wear you down, but I still have a passion for the sport. The sport grabs you and makes you fall in love with it, even though it does that to you sometimes. I still love the sport, I have dedicated 20 years of my life to this sport but I am not satisfied with what I have achieved so I still have a lot to do before I leave.”
As Moloney shook off the disappointment of his fourth professional loss and underwent surgery to repair a torn biceps tendon, he set his sights on a rematch with Guevara, but when the Mexican boxer fought “Barbara” last month That plan was shelved when Rodriguez fought. Lost all three rounds.
“First of all, my motivation is to rematch Pedro Guevara and right the wrong,” Moloney said. “I knew I was a better fighter than him. I fought that fight with one arm, so I had surgery after the fight and throughout the rehab process, to do this, my motivation was just to get back to Being in the ring with him, proving that I deserved to win that fight and that I’m the better fighter, that’s our goal .I was promised the rematch and I was working really, really hard to get this arm ready so I could be in the rematch and unfortunately, he was asked to fight Bam and obviously he was going to be in that game. So when I heard the news, it was very difficult because my motivation was to get this fight.”
Instead, he got Thailand’s Majungoen, a 55-fight veteran who had won three straight despite facing three opponents who had yet to win a professional fight. While not ideal, it is understandable as a person staying busy after major surgery. With Willibaldo Garcia Perez and Rene Calixto Bibiano fighting for the vacant IBF title on Dec. 21 at 115 pounds No. 8-ranked Moloney hopes to add his name to the list of contenders for the belt in 2025.
“Thankfully, there have been some changes in my department, especially the IBF,” he said. “The IBF title is vacant and they are fighting for it. I really believe I have what it takes to beat them. So my plan is to get back in the ring this weekend and climb up the IBF rankings and hopefully get a chance with the winner of that fight Battle.”
As disgusted as Moloney sounded after his fight with Guevara, he’s done a 180 these days as he plays in a show that also features Rodriguez and future Hall of Famer Roman “Chocolate” · Starting off pretty clean in a division with big names like Gonzalez. A win this Sunday could make him even more excited about what the new year has in store for him.
“I know I need to win this fight to push me towards another world title shot and set me up for a really big year next year,” he said. “So yes, the motivation is still there. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m hoping this win will move me up the IBF rankings and maybe we can get a knockout early next year. So the motivation is there to be a world champion The championship motivation is there and what gets me out of bed every morning in training camp is to become world champion and if I do my job, it’s not too far away.”
So, this is like part three godfather A trilogy where he gets pulled back in just when he thinks he’s out?
“Yes, even though these years have brought me some very, very dark times and have been very, very frustrating, I still feel like there’s more to do and I want to roll the dice again and do what it takes to be the world One last shot. To win the championship again and make sure I give it my all so I don’t regret it at the end.”
