By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

WBA interim super flyweight champion Andrew Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs) talks to Fightnews.com® about his recent world title victory and says he is confident of defeating WBA regular champion Khalid Yafai, IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas and the WBC champion Juan Estrada.

Andrew also mentions that he is excited that Top Rank has signed him and his world-rated bantamweight brother Jason in 2019 and how his boxing idol, former world cruiserweight and light heavyweight champion Danny Green is now his Australian promoter. Moloney says his manager Tony Tolj is a tireless worker and trainer Angelo Hyder has improved his skills immensely.

Congratulations on capturing the WBA interim super flyweight title on November 15 in Melbourne with a ninth round stoppage of Elton Dharry. You experienced some tough moments during the contest. Tell me about this fight.

Thank you very much. This has been my dream for 16 years now so to finally become World Champion is an amazing feeling.

It was a tough fight. Elton is a good fighter, coming into the fight he hadn’t lost in over 10 years. I feel that I controlled most of the fight besides the 5th round when he caught me with and great shot. I made the mistake of getting too careless trying to finish the fight and walked onto an uppercut that I didn’t see coming. I did what I had to do to get through that round without taking any risks, I then got back to the plan and won the following rounds. Dharry’s eye started to swell very badly and after looking at his eye a multiple times the doctor decided to stop the fight as Dharry could no longer see out of his right eye. As the damage was caused by a punch I was awarded the winner by TKO at the beginning of round nine. I was also clearly ahead on all three judges score cards at the time of the stoppage .

Your world title win was given maximum exposure when televised on ESPN and Foxtel Main Event Pay-Per-View which recorded outstanding sales mainly because football greats Paul Gallen and Barry Hall boxed a six round draw. What are your thoughts of footballers who Box being bigger attractions then genuine world class boxers?

Any time that boxing gets exposure especially to a new audience and mainstream media it’s great for our sport and that’s what Barry Hall and Paul Gallen brought by fighting each other. If it wasn’t for them drawing such a large audience it wouldn’t have been possible for me to fight for a world title here in Australia so I can’t thank them enough.

You and your brother Jason have been signed by Top Rank. This will help your careers in you and Jason becoming global attractions. Your thoughts?

Yes, there is no doubt that Top Rank can turn both of us into global stars, they have done this with many fighters over the years. All we have to do is keep winning and make the most of the opportunities that they give us.

WBA champion Khalid Yafai holds the regular title and would you welcome a showdown with him in 2020. ? Would you be confident of victory?

Of course, I would. Yafai is who I have been chasing for the last 3 years. I have done everything I can to make that fight happen. I won a world title eliminator and now the interim world title, let’s hope we can make that fight happen early in 2020.

IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas is also promoted by Top Rank. You are rated IBF#6. Could Moloney vs. Ancajas happen in 2020? Would you be confident of victory?

Yes that is a fight that I believe can definitely be made in 2020. Once I become WBA regular champion I would like to unify the belts against Ancajas.

You are rated WBC #5 to WBC super flyweight champion Juan. Estrada. Is he on your radar in 2020? Are you confident of victory?

Yes this is another fight I would like to happen in 2020. Estrada is the #1 Super Flyweight at the moment. I would love to fight him, especially with him now being the Ring Magazine champion. Winning the Ring Magazine belt is one of my biggest goals that I want to achieve in my career.

Australian boxing legend and former world light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Danny Green promoted your world title bout on November 15. Tell me about being promoted by Danny Green?

It’s crazy how things have worked out. Danny was my biggest idol growing up, he was my favorite fighter. It blows me away how much he has done for mine and my brother Jason’s careers. He introduced us to our manger Tony Tolj and our trainer Angelo Hyder who was also Danny’s trainer for most of his career. He put us on his undercards early in our careers which was a great experience and great exposure for us both at the time, then on November 15 he made it possible for me to become world champion in Melbourne which was a dream come true! I can’t thank Danny enough for how much he has done for me and Jason.

You are managed by Tony Tolj and trained by Angelo Hyder. Tell me about Tony and Angelo?

That’s right and even though boxing is an individual sport you must have a great team behind you to succeed. I’m so lucky and grateful to have Tony and Angelo as part of my team. Tony never stops working to help me achieve as much as I possibly can in this sport and has guided my career to absolute perfection so far. Angelo has helped me to improve so much in the 3 years we have been together. I’m very lucky to have him as my coach, I feel that I’m improving every session that we do together, he has the best boxing brain I’ve ever come across.

Can you say a few words to your fans on Fightnews.com?

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years. As Australia’s only current world champion, I plan to put Australian boxing back on the map and make Australia proud. I hope that Australia gets behind me as I represent our amazing country on the world stage.