By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
ESPN commentator and future Hall of Famer Andre Ward has offered legal support to Andrew Moloney after his fight against Joshua Franco was ruled a no-decision contest in Las Vegas on Saturday.
“Andre spoke to me immediately after the fight and said ‘they robbed you’,” Moloney said. “He told me he’d watched all the replays and that there was no head clash. Said the damage was caused by a punch. So he said to keep my chin up and that I’d get an opportunity.”
“Andre phoned up his lawyer and said ‘we need to help this guy out, what they’ve done to him is wrong.’ So we now have his lawyer on board helping our appeal. And I’m so grateful for that. Obviously with Andre being a fighter himself, he understands what this means to me. Understands how much I’ve sacrificed.”
As part of the appeal process, Moloney, manager Tony Tolj and twin brother Jason also visited Arum’s Top Rank offices on Monday to finalize their paperwork for the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
“Bob has footage which clearly shows it was the punch that damaged the eye, not a head clash,” Moloney said. “So that gives me some confidence that we can get this overturned.
“And he is also really keen to get a third fight between myself and Franco held in Australia early next year which I’m also really excited about. We’ve heard over here that apparently my punch fractured Franco’s eye socket. So I’m ready to prove who the really champion is.”
I lime Andre. Morales. Ethics. Nuff said
I lime Andre, too. He’s no lemon.
Cubanitovih, that was funny. Gave me a good laugh.
I highly doubt they (WBA) will over turn the decision but instead order a rematch. Golden Boy promotions pay a lot of money to the WBA for them to get the bad end of the stick.
once again, when non-boxing fans decide to tune in to a fight, they are treated to incompetence. unfortunate
Exactly – the whole world saw …..
Hats off to ‘legend,’ Andre Ward…and as we’d say down here is, “what a great bloke”…
If they approach a third (3rd) fight as if Moloney won the second (2nd) fight, then the fight should occur in Australia because Moloney earned the title belt.
If a third (3rd) fight occurs in Australia, let’s hope boxing authorities in Australia do not create any boxing wrongs/misdeeds/evils like boxing authorities created in my beloved USA.
However, first thing first, let’s hope they overturn the decision in appeals for a Moloney victory.
E-Man, well the Australian boxing authorities are the ones who “gave” Jeff horn the win…
exactly and although i like Ward as a commentator he shouldnt be getting involved seeing that nobody did that for Kovelev in their first with Ward in which Kovelev was robbed and even in their rematch in which i had Ward winning 3 consecutie nut shots that to this day are just “hush hushed” away in the boxing community make me think ……Ward mind your own business
Franco looked sad and beat-up after the fight. I actually felt bad for him.
Part of me says “dude, just let it go, move on and get that rematch”. But I also know that they put in 6-8 weeks of hard work and sacrifice only to not get the win when they feel they deserve it. This is a tough one but I think he should focus on getting him back in the ring and making it clear who won. Regarding the call, I watched all the ESPN replays and there were many that showed a punch and many showed a butt. But none clearly showed the eye immediately swelling up so it was a hard call. Some say butt and some say punch, I saw punch but I can’t say with certainty that that’s what’s was.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I saw a thumb hit the eye. We all see and have different opinions. By the way I wonder if Andre would like Kovalev to hire a lawyer to look into the low blows on their fight.
Manny, I also saw that replay. And it could’ve very well been it. But the eye didn’t swell instantly so how can we say for sure.