Andrew Moloney vs Joshua Franco Odds and Pick
- Andrew Moloney vs Joshua Franco goes down on Tuesday, June 23 at 8pm ET
- Moloney enters as the reigning WBA world champion but will he leave the ring the same?
- Check out the fight odds, my sweet science analysis, and my prediction below
Andrew Moloney and Joshua Franco vie for the WBA junior bantamweight championship. The fight emanates from The Bubble at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The pugilistic proceedings will broadcast on ESPN.
Top Rank has been bringing Boxing back and SBD has had things covered for these comeback efforts. This event features the first men’s boxing world championship fight since February 29th. A lot of eyes will be on this high stakes bout and the pressure will be on for both of these warriors to emerge victorious.
Moloney vs Franco Odds
| Fighter | Odds |
|---|---|
| Andrew Moloney | -1200 |
| Joshua Franco | +700 |
Odds as of June 19th
Joshua Franco’s Resume
Franco is unbeaten across his last five bouts. He has captured WBA International Bantamweight gold and well as the NABF Bantamweight title. He put together a 1-0-2 series with Oscar Negrete, then scored a ninth-round TKO over Jose Burgos in his last prizefight. It’s a well-regarded series of fights that will become classics in the minds of boxing fans as time goes on.
The exciting thing about this Moloney vs Franco fight is that it’s much better matchmaking than the last few Top Rank cards. A prevalent criticism about those recent events was the lopsided matchmaking in the main events. No pundit or fan can reasonably say that about this fight and there is much more pugilistic parity to it than some of those aforementioned recent main events.
Moloney’s Merits
Andrew Moloney has four consecutive stoppage victories and makes his United States debut with this championship defense. He has collected multiple Oceania as well as Commonwealth titles at bantamweight and junior bantamweight. Moloney finally captured gold at the world championship level in his last outing when he defeated Elton Dharry in November 2019.
What a fight by @JasonMoloney1. 2nd round body stoppage. Great to see the Moloney brothers coming up. Can’t wait to see the Moloney brothers win their world titles in due time. Next up, his brother @AndrewMoloney for the WBA interim Super Fly title. ?? pic.twitter.com/l4OUrCzZPN
— Lachlan (@lachlanh00per) November 15, 2019
Moloney has been training with his brother Jason after flying from their native Australia to Las Vegas. The two are prominently featured in Top Rank cards this week. The brothers have been training at the promotion’s gym facility just off the Vegas strip.
Jason will fight on June 25, just two days after brother Andrew’s bout. Andrew Moloney is 29, and while he has accomplished a lot already, he’s arguably just settling into his prime, where the confluence of killer instinct / athletic aptitude peaks with veteran seasoning / heightening fight IQ.
Moloney vs Franco Tale of the Tape
| 21-0 | Record | 16-1-2 |
| 14 | Knockouts | 8 |
| 5’5 | Height | 5’5 |
| N/A | Reach | 67″ |
| Elton Dharry, Miguel Gonzalez, Luis Concepcion | Significant Wins | Jose Burgos, Oscar Negrete, Carlos Maldonado |
| Orthodox | Stance | Orthodox |
Moloney is in prime position for a unification bout with Roman Chocolatito Gonzalez at some point in 2020 or perhaps early 2021. He obviously cannot overlook Franco but I see the belt staying with the reigning, defending champion.
Andrew The Monster Moloney will live up to his nickname with his performance early next week. Ultimately I think it’s a successful US debut for Moloney that sees him notch the first world title defense under his belt. I think Moloney gets the stoppage victory inside of six rounds.
Pick: Moloney (-1200)
A part-time writer and full-time broadcaster, Dylan has hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, and covered some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage.
