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Andew Moloney monsters Raymond Tabugon, Jason Moloney clinical against Lolito Sonsona

By Anthony Cocks

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World rated Andrew ‘The Monster’ Moloney 14-0 (9) overcame a third round knockdown to score a stunning 4th round TKO of Raymond ‘Tornado’ Tabugon 20-8- 1 (10) in his first professional fight at super flyweight at Melbourne Park Function Centre in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday night.

 

Headlining the fifth instalment of Hosking Promotions’ ‘Punches at the Park’ series, Andrew was returning to the weight class where he claimed Commonwealth Games gold at Glasgow in 2014 after competing at bantamweight or above for his previous 13 professional contests.

 

The additional weight loss had no ill effect on the 26-year-old Melburnian, who was fighting for the WBA Oceania and OPBF Silver titles in his new weight division.

 

“I felt great at super flyweight,” said Andrew the day after the fight. “I had no problem making the weight. I felt just as strong but a lot faster. I’m happy we made the decision to move down.”

 

The fight began without much of a feeling out round as both boxers looked to establish control early. Andrew worked on getting his jab pumping while Tabugon looked to catch Moloney with something big before he had a chance to work his way into the fight.

 

Andrew began to find his range with the left in the second round, but Tabugon kept winging his wild, looping shots, occasionally connecting with hard punches from awkward angles. Andrew worked the body and landed a head-snapping uppercut late in the round, followed by a solid right cross.

 

Tabugon, who dropped newly-minted WBC bantamweight champion Luis Nery when the two met in December last before succumbing in the fourth, had Andrew bleeding from the nose by the end of the round.

 

The action heated up in the third. Andrew forced the fight inside and went to work with short shots to the body and head. The exchanges became more frequent and ferocious as the round progressed until the two were trading bombs in the neutral corner late in the round. A short left hook from Tabugon caught Andrew on the button and sent him to the canvas.

 

Andrew was quickly up on his feet. While referee Ignatius Missailidis administered the mandatory eight count, the ten second warning sounded indicating the end of the round approaching.

 

Tabugon rushed out of his neutral corner after the count in a desperate attempt to finish off his opponent before the bell, but Andrew easily survived the few remaining seconds of the round.

 

After the sixty second rest period Andrew came out a different beast. The knockdown spurred him into action and he took the fight up to the 26-year-old Filipino in the following round.

 

“Tabugon was very tough, I thought I would be able to outbox him a lot easier than I did,” said Andrew. “He was strong and was throwing wild punches, he managed to catch me in the third round. I wasn’t hurt at all but I knew that I couldn’t afford to continue getting hit with those sort of punches so it definitely made me switch on.”

 

Armed with a new nickname in this fight, ‘The Monster’ lived up to his billing by bulling his opponent around the ring before cutting him off in his own corner and delivering a ferocious fusillade of finishing blows.

 

Andrew fired off lefts and rights to the body and head while Tabugon covered up in the corner vainly hoping that he would punch himself out. He didn’t. Eventually the teak-tough Tabugon crumpled to the canvas, his battered body folding beneath him while his cornermen looked on from a few feet away unable to help.

 

The savage pummelling rendered Tabugon unable to continue. Official time of the stoppage was 2:42 of the fourth round.

 

“I wasn’t angry or looking for revenge after the knockdown,” Andrew insists. “But it did make me aware of how dangerous of an opponent he could have been so when I noticed I had Tabugon hurt I definitely didn’t want to let him off the hook and let him recover, I knew I needed to get him out of there.”

 

Andrew is currently rated WBA #10, IBF #14 and WBC #20 at bantamweight and will be hoping to achieve a similar ranking or better in the 115-pound division.

 

If everything goes to plan, Andrew will challenge for the OPBF super flyweight title currently held by Filipino Rene Dacquel 20-6- 1 (6) before heading to Japan.

 

“This was a great learning fight for me and a tough test which is exactly what we need to move onto bigger fights,” said Andrew. “I plan to challenge for the full OPBF title, hopefully in my next fight. I would love to then defend that title in Japan a few times before looking to fight for the world title.”

 

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Earlier in the night WBA #8 and WBO #12 super bantamweight Jason ‘The Smooth One’ Moloney 14-0 (11) had to go the long route to get his win over the Philippines’ Lolito ‘Thunder Shot’ Sonsona 21-2-4 (9) in their WBA Oceania and OPBF Silver title fight.

 

It was a dominant display from Jason who pitched a virtual shutout over a brisk ten rounds to win by scores of 100-90 twice and 99-91.

 

Jason controlled the early action with his jab, dictating the distance and determining when they would engage. By the third round the fight was becoming trench warfare with both boxers trading short shots on the inside.

 

In the fourth round Jason was raking Sonsona’s body with punches from both hands that remarkably didn’t seem to slow down the 25-year-old visitor in the slightest. The fifth round saw tremendous back and forth action with power punches on the inside from both boxers but it was Jason who was the busier and more accurate of the two.

 

A rampaging Jason opened the sixth with a big right hand bomb and continued to maul Sonsona for the rest of the round, but the rugged Filipino wouldn’t budge. He took his licks and came back in the following round to land some hard shots of his own.

 

After a slower eighth round Jason had a big ninth, backing Sonsona onto the ropes and literally walking him around the perimeter of the ring on the end of his punches while smashing his body with hooks.

 

In the tenth and final round Jason tried hard to finish the fight with an exclamation point, but it wasn’t to be. Sonsona was as tough as old boots and as hard as a cat’s head. Jason had to settle for outhustling the fatigued Sonsona until the final bell.

 

It was a long night at the office for Jason but in the long run he will be a better boxer for the experience.

 

Jason becomes just the second boxer to defeat Sonsona, whose only loss was to former world title challenger Ardin Diale also on points over ten rounds almost six years ago.

 

Sandwiched between the two Moloney fights, once-defeated featherweight Ibrahim Balla 12-1 (7) put on a clever display of boxing against seasoned campaigner and former world title challenger Silvester Lopez 28-14-2 (19) of the Philippines to win a ten round decision after a pugilistic masterclass.

 

In his previous trip to Australia last November the 29-year-old veteran took unbeaten Tasmanian contender Luke Jackson the ten round distance, losing a competitive fight.

 

Against Balla he was lucky to win a round, going down by scores of 99-91 and 98-92 twice.

 

It was a mature, composed performance from Balla, who had to overcome a cut on his left eyebrow late in the fight that left blood dripping into his eye.

 

Balla, who hails from Werribee in Melbourne’s outer western suburbs, has shown much improvement in recent fights and Saturday night’s performance was perhaps his most complete showing to date. The 26-year-old Lim Jeka-trained boxer picked his shots well and landed the harder, crisper blows throughout the contest, while Lopez was always a half-step behind.

 

Also on the card Jeff Fenech’s super flyweight protégé Brock Jarvis 11-0 (10) scored his tenth straight knockout victory with a TKO of outclassed Indonesian lefty Ghalatry Sonny 5-4 (3) in the third round of a scheduled six round bantamweight clash.

 

Sonny was down in the first round from a three-punch combination and on the receiving end of some strength-sapping body shots from Jarvis, who used his size and reach to walk his man down.

 

By the third round Sonny found the canvas once again after a left rip and wisely indicated to referee Tony Marretta that he didn’t wish to continue.

 

At 5-foot-7 the rangy Jarvis is tall for his weight class but the likes to fight on the inside rather use his length to keep his opponents on the outside.

 

International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Fenech holds high hopes for the 19-year-old from his hometown of Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west and with the triple-world champion in his corner you can expect to see more of this talented kid in the future.

 

In the opening bout of the evening former Carlton AFL footballer Damien Lock 2-2-1 from Bendigo had to settle for a split draw against Sherwyn ‘The Sandman’ Watkins 4-2-1 (2) of Perth in an entertaining four round middleweight contest. One judge had the fight even at 38-38 while the other two cards were 39-37 and 37-39.

 

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