Joshua Franco pulled off a minor upset Tuesday night to claim the WBA super flyweight title, edging Andrew Moloney by a narrow unanimous decision after dropping him in the 11th round.
The entertaining main event at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas saw Franco (17-1-2), who came in as a live underdog, pull away late to defeat the previously unbeaten champion. The judges' scores were 114-113, 114-113 and 115-112.
Moloney (21-1) was solid for the first four rounds, working the body to slow Franco’s movement. Franco, though, made significant adjustments and his mid-range game was on full display in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds as he put his punches together well and didn’t allow Moloney to get his offense off.
"After the fourth round, I gained the momentum and figured him out. I always knew this was possible,” Franco said afterward.
The fight was nip and tuck in the eighth round as Moloney continued to find success to the body while Franco demonstrated pinpoint accuracy with his combination punching.
Franco began pulling away in the ninth round with hard combinations and relentless pressure. The combination punching began to wear on Moloney’s face, with a cut above the Australian’s left eye spilling blood.
The tide truly turned in the 11th when Franco connected with a thudding four-punch combination and sent "The Monster" to the canvas. An exhausted Moloney made it to his feet and got on his bicycle for the rest of the round in an effort to stay out of trouble, but it was clear that he had lost control of the fight.
The final frame was all Franco as he pressed forward, but Moloney valiantly fought back to ensure he would remain on his feet until the final bell.
That knockdown turned out to be the difference-maker.
"I wasn’t nervous when the decision was being read," the new champion said. "I knew I'd done enough to win this fight. My coach, Robert Garcia, had me ready. I'm going home with the belt."
In the co-main event, Christopher Diaz put himself into featherweight title contention by boxing his way to a unanimous decision victory over Jason Sanchez.
Diaz (26-2) dominated after a pair of feeling-out rounds. From the outset, he utilized angles, controlled distance and mixed up his offense to keep Sanchez (15-2) from finding a rhythm.
Although Sanchez did well establishing his jab, Diaz was crafty enough to disrupt his opponent's offense with effective counterpunching and movement.
Diaz never had Sanchez in any serious trouble but was still dominant enough throughout to earn scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93 in the 10-round bout.
The victory was Diaz’s second in a row since dropping a decision to Shakur Stevenson in April 2019.
Also on the card, Helaman Olguin defeated Adam Stewart by majority decision (57-57, 58-56, 58-56) in heavyweight action while Miguel Contreras took a unanimous decision over Rolando Vargas in a six-round super lightweight bout, with 58-56 scores from all three judges.