Andrew Moloney finally won his first world title on Saturday in Japan, beating Willibaldo Garcia by majority decision to take the IBF super flyweight title.
Moloney won the fight 115-113 on two score cards, with the third even at 114-114.
The 35-year-old Moloney took short money to chase the title fight, reportedly $47,000, with Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn saying he’d offered Moloney six figures to step aside so that Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez could face Garcia and try to go undisputed at 115 lbs, with Moloney then
guaranteed a fight with Rodriguez, if he’d won.
But Moloney told Hearn that it was his dream, and that he had to take the fight and give it a go. Hearn sent congratulations, and called the conversation with Moloney “pleasant,” for what it’s worth; smiling that he thought Moloney was “mad’ for turning down much bigger money, but admitting that with the win, Moloney made the right call.
Moloney (29-4, 18 KO) had previously come up short in bids for the secondary WBA super flyweight title back in 2020-21, competing in a trilogy with Joshua Franco, Bam Rodriguez’s brother. Franco won twice and the middle bout went to a no-contest. He was also brutally knocked out in a WBO title fight against Junto Nakatani in 2023.
Garcia drops to 23-7-2 (13 KO).
Masamichi Yabuki retains, Casimero smashes Nery
Masamichi Yabuki (20-4, 18 KO) retained his IBF flyweight title, beating Rene Calixto (24-2-1, 10 KO) by wide unanimous decision. Scores were 116-110, 118-108, and 118-108.
Michael Angeletti (15-0, 8 KO) scored a strong win at bantamweight, defeating Kenneth Llover (17-1, 12 KO) in a matchup of unbeaten contenders. Angeletti won the split decision, taking two cards on scores of 115-112 and 116-111, with Llolver getting the third card, 115-112.
John Riel Casimero (36-5-1, 25 KO) destroyed Luis Nery (37-3, 28 KO) in a meeting of two of boxing’s most volatile lower-weight standouts in recent memory. Nery failed to make weight in yet another division, and was down 30-22 on all three cards at the time of the fourth round stoppage, putting the 37-year-old Casimero back in the mix.
