How world champ Andrew Moloney hit back from horror start

Australia’s undefeated world boxing champ Andrew Moloney lost his first seven amateur fights but while most people probably would have given up on the sport long before that he has hit the top by refusing to quit.

Australian boxer Andrew Moloney becomes world champ after winning the interim WBA super flyweight world title. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

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Australia’s world boxing champ Andrew Moloney proved his determination to succeed in the sport after a horror start to his career as he tells GRANTLEE KIEZA

You’ve been training hard over Christmas and New Year for fights inside and outside the ring?

Last March I stopped Miguel Gonzalez in Chile and I’ve got it in writing that the WBA ordered England’s WBA super-flyweight champ Kal Yafai to fight me by March 22, 2020. I’ve won the interim world title since then to further my claims but we hear that Yafai is instead trying to organize a fight against Roman `` Chocolatito’’ Gonzalez in Texas on February 29. We’ve hired the American lawyer Pat English to fight the case for me to take that bout against Yafai instead. I’m training as if I’m fighting on February 29.

You’re a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Australia’s only male boxing world champ. But you didn’t have such a good start in the sport?

Andrew Moloney lands a left jab on the right eye of Elton Dharry in their fight for the WBA Interim super-flyweight title. Picture: Michael Klein

No I lost my first seven amateur fights. Most people probably would have given it away long before that but I refused to give up. Those losses drove me on.

You started off playing Aussie rules?

Yeah, my twin brother Jason and I had a dream to play AFL and we played Aussie rules for the Croydon club in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. In 2004 when we were 13 we decided to do some boxing in the pre-season for extra fitness and we fell in love with boxing. By the time we turned 16 we were faced with a decision between the two sports because it was too hard to juggle both – we were playing football on a Saturday and then fighting on a Sunday. We decided to stick with boxing. Because of footy, I could only train in boxing two or three nights a week. I knew that to turn things around I had to train in boxing every night if I wanted to get good.

Jason (left) and Andrew Moloney in the cane fields near Tweed Heads

Things turned around pretty quickly?

Yes, after I won my first fight in Australia I went five or six years before losing another one in Australia. I made the Australian team for the first time in 2009 and continued to represent Australia until I won a gold medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

You and Jason are obviously very close?

We get more nervous before each other’s fights than we do for our own. We live only about 800m apart down near the beach at Kingscliff in northern NSW and we train together every day. Our wives are close too and our babies are only four months apart. My wife Chelsea and I have been together for eight and a half years. Every fight she’s come to I’ve won. Our son Lee is six months and Jason and Jorja have a 10-month old daughter named Isla.

WBA champ Andrew Moloney with wife Chelsea and baby son Lee after the world title win. Picture: Michael Klein

You and Jason had a great run in the amateurs?

We were both on the Commonwealth Games team for 2010 in Delhi and I won gold at Glasgow four years later. I missed out on the 2012 Olympics when I lost to Jackson Woods from Tasmania. I’d beaten him three times before and I thought I did enough to win at the selection trials but the judges didn’t agree. Jackson is now 12kg heavier and he just lost in Brisbane against Justin Frost for the Australian professional light-welterweight title.

Missing out on the Olympics must have hurt?

I honestly wondered if I should stay in the sport because I’d missed out on my big goal. Most of my friends were working and starting to buy houses and set themselves up for the future. I had absolutely nothing. I was living with my parents and had to sell my car to stay in the sport. But I thought I’d give it one more crack to shoot for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. I won four fights there and got the gold medal by winning the final against Pakistan’s Muhammad Waseem, who is now doing very well in the pro ranks, too.

Andrew Moloney celebrates his win over local hero Reece McFadden of Scotland at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Moloney went on to win gold. Picture: Adam Head

One of your amateur teammates was Jeff Horn?

We trained a lot together at different camps at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and we went to the world championships in Azerbaijan in 2011. Jeff is a top bloke as anyone would say who has ever met him. It’s great to see him doing so well and to get that victory over Michael Zerafa.

Jeff Horn v Tim Tszyu. Who wins?

The timing is very important. Right now I think Jeff would win because of his experience at the top level but Tim is getting better with every fight. Hopefully for Jeff’s sake they make the fight sooner rather than later because the longer they leave it, the more it favours Tim.

You and Jason are identical twins. Do you ever impersonate each other?

Growing up we played a few tricks on people but nothing like Henry and Leon Nissen who are twins and who were star boxers back in Melbourne in the 1970s. Sometimes they’d fight for each other or weigh in for each other.

Danny Green has been a great help to your careers?

He was our idol growing up. At my dad’s house there are Danny Green posters everywhere. We met Danny in Las Vegas the night before Mayweather-Pacquiao in 2015. We didn’t have a manager or promoter then and we were in a stale position. Danny introduced us to his trainer Angelo Hyder and to Tony Tolj, who became our manager. He put us on three of his undercards to help us get exposure including his second fight with Anthony Mundine at Adelaide Oval and it was a huge buzz to fight in front of such a big crowd. I’ve since won the interim world super-flyweight title. Jason went very close to winning the world bantamweight title in America two years ago and will get another shot soon.

Andrew Moloney and Elton Dharry with promoter Danny Green (centre) in Melbourne. (AAP Image/Vince Caligiuri)

Green promoted your last fight in Melbourne. Were you upset that while you’re title fight with Guyana’s Elton Dharry was the main event, an undercard bout between Barry Hall and Paul Gallen got most of the attention?

No. Having Barry and Gallen on the program made it possible for me to fight for a world title on a Main Event pay-per-view card. At this stage unless people follow boxing closely they don’t know me or Jason. The only way we could guarantee Main Event and a packed Margaret Court Arena was to have proven drawcards on the show. Barry and Gallen made my dream chance come true and hopefully all the people who tuned in to watch their fight also saw me and Jason score big wins as well.

AFL great Barry Hall with Andrew (left) and Jason Moloney. Picture: Adam Head

Leading up to the world title win, you had some big victories. You’re now undefeated in 21 pro fights?

I’ve beaten four guys rated in the world top five and every fight I’m improving. Each opponent has been that little bit tougher. Unfortunately a lot of Aussie guys take easy bouts to boost their records and when they get a world title shot they come unstuck. You need the hard fights on the way up.

How long have you been at Kingscliff?

Jason and I moved up from Melbourne to train with Angelo Hyder almost three years ago. We have a gym full of talent with Jason, Billel Dib, who is world-rated and Bruno Tarimo who is a real star on the rise.