Australian super flyweight Andrew Moloney has targeted WBO world champion Kosei Tanaka five months after a contentious split decision loss to Pedro Guevara on the Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. George Kambosos Jr undercard in Perth, Australia.
“It was the most frustrating night of my career,” Moloney said exclusively to FightsATW. “Every fight I’ve had, I leave everything in the ring, but in this fight, we felt that I was in control and winning the fight comfortably. My corner thought I was winning ten rounds to two. I felt the same. Maybe watching it back, I would maybe give him one or two more rounds, at most, maybe it was 8-4. It didn’t feel like a close fight. It actually felt like one of the easiest fights of my career.
“I woke up the next day, and I didn’t have a scratch on me apart from a torn bicep. I could have done more if I felt I needed to, but with the injury and feeling in control we did what we needed to do to get the win on the night. I don’t know why the judges didn’t see it that way. I suppose you never think you are going to get ripped off or robbed in your home country. When you are fighting away, you feel a little less comfortable. I just didn’t expect that decision to come at all. It was very, very frustrating because I know that I’m a better fighter than Guevara.”
Moloney misses out on a shot with WBC world champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who will now face Guevara at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on November 9.
“I was promised the rematch,” Moloney explained. “I got my bicep right and have been begging my team to get this rematch, and the WBC promised me the rematch. Then, when I saw the news that they had ordered him to fight Bam, I was just heartbroken. Guevara was trying to organize a stay-busy fight in Mexico in October, and we were trying to stop that from happening to quickly organize our own show to bring him out here to do that fight at the end of November or start of December. Then I saw on Instagram the fight with Bam, I knew there was nothing we could do about that.
“Devastating, but I still feel that I need to achieve more in my career. I’m determined to get another world title with my eyes now set on Kosei Tanka. It’s a fight that I’ve wanted for a long time and one I am very confident I can win. I’m trying to organize a fight to get back in the ring as soon as possible, finish the year with a good win, and move up those WBO rankings. Tanka is fighting [Phumelele] Cafu in a couple of weeks time on the same card as [Junto] Nakatani. I would like to fight one of the guys rated in the WBO so we can climb that as fast as possible. Christian Bacasegua is a fight we could make. We actually tried to make that fight last year; he fought Tanaka a few months ago. We had him agreed to fight me in Australia last December. That’s someone I’ve watched a lot of, but anyone who’s rated, I’m happy to fight them. I need to get back in the ring.”
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