Why Andrew and Jason Moloney are ready to take boxing, and Australia, by storm
Move over Steve and Mark Waugh, Kevin and Kerrod Walters, Brett and Josh Morris, there’s a new set of power-packed twins coming through - boxing’s fighting Moloney brothers.
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Not all boxing world champions get to live the glamorous million-dollar lifestyles.
Jeff Horn drives a Lexus and Tim Tszyu gets around in a flash new black Mustang. Anthony Mundine and Danny Green are multi-millionaires. Floyd Mayweather is worth $800 million.
Yet Australia’s newest and only world champion can’t afford a car, has no money in the bank and often struggles to pay his weekly rent and groceries.
Andrew Maloney sold his car two years ago and had to borrow $20,000 before his last overseas fight to pay for sparring partners, hotel accommodation, food and other expenses.
Recently signed by Top Rank in the US, Maloney officially became a WBA world champion on Tuesday. He had been the interim super flyweight champion.
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He will defend his title in the United States in Oklahoma on April 17, desperately craving the same attention and money Horn and Tszyu are getting for their big fight a week later.
Maloney is the 29-year-old twin brother of Jason Maloney, who is also aiming to become a world champion later this year now the opportunities are coming under the banner of Top Rank and the world’s biggest promoter Bob Arum.
These two are boxing’s version of Steve and Mark Waugh, Kevin and Kerrod Walters, Brett and Josh Morris — the top twins in Australian sports.
With both boxers now in Arum’s stable, it will catapult them on to some of the biggest cards in US — and hopefully a more comfortable existence.
The twins fought in Melbourne last year on the Barry Hall-Paul Gallen fight night. While the retired old footy players shared $900,000 in payments, the twins got around $35,000 between them.
“(Gallen and Hall) brought the eyeballs to the fight, we understand that,” Jason said. “Without those guys, the punters wouldn’t have got to see us.
“It was a good opportunity to showcase ourselves and our skills with a lot of people watching.”
It has been a long battle for recognition in light weight divisions that rarely attract the big pay-per-view audiences, especially for two genuine nice guys who aren’t into the trash talk to sell tickets. They’d rather let their fists do the talking.
The pathway to big fights in the US has been long and hard.
Andrew had a fight in Bendigo in 2018, against Panama’s Luis Concepcion — who went on to win a world title — that barely covered his costs. He made just $60 once the bills were paid.
Still, it was important to lift himself up the world ratings.
“It was an investment rather than a money-making exercise,” Andrew said.
The twins are now under the care of champion trainer Angelo Hyder at Kingscliff on the north coast of NSW.
Cutting ties with their long-term trainer Brian Butler after eight years ago was harder than any fight.
“We copped a bit of flak, Jason said, “but you only get one crack at this. Brian was like family to us but it got to a stage where we weren’t improving, just staying in the same spot.
“All we ever wanted to do was become world champions.”
Buttler had been there since they left amateurs. They took up boxing as kids in Melbourne to get fit to play AFL, but they were too small.
Remarkably, Andrew lost his first six fights and Jason his first two.
He has since won a Commonwealth Games gold medal and is unbeaten in 21 professional fights.
He’s a pocket dynamo who switch hits between orthodox and southpaw with brutal force.
It was a chance meeting with their hero Danny Green in Las Vegas that changed the entire direction of their careers.
“We’d been invited to a function at a casino and Danny was outside but they wouldn’t let him in without a ticket,” Andrew said.
“So I snuck over to him, introduced myself, shook hands and gave him my ticket. He came in and we got talking about our careers.”
It was on Green’s recommendation the boys left Butler to link up with his own mentor, Hyder, regarded by many as the best trainer/boxing brain in the country.
There was one problem. They’d lived their entire lives in Melbourne and Hyder was based in Kingscliff on the Tweed Coast.
Seven months earlier, Hyder had nearly died in a work accident. He now has seven plates in his face from a fractured eye-socket, jaw and cheekbone from the bulldozer accident.
As well, he had bleeding on the brain and broke his right leg and hip.
He still suffers from memory loss and acts as more of an adviser, with veteran Gold Coast trainers Tony Nobbs and Craig Wilson looking after the pads and day-to-day training.
“At first we didn’t even have a clue where Kingscliff even was, but we just packed our bags and left,” Jason said. “We hired a car and stayed in a little hotel in Coolangatta. Then our partners joined us and we’ve been here since.
“We just thought Angelo could take us to the next level, even if he was really crook at the time.”
It’s a couple of generous sponsors keep the Maloney twins going.
Andrew’s rent in a one-bedroom apartment is $430. He supports his wife Chelsea and their eight-month old son, Lee. Jason and his partner Jorja have a one-year-old daughter, Isla.
The money will eventually come. They just need to keep winning.
“The problem is you can’t work a job and compete at the level we want to be at,” Andrew said.
“We’ve got mates who are tradies at the same age as us and they’ve got their own homes and investment properties.”
“You don’t like borrowing money all the time and having a struggle to pay the bills.
“But the end result … if we can both become world champions – it will be worth it.”
Originally published as Why Andrew and Jason Moloney are ready to take boxing, and Australia, by storm