FRANCO-MOLONEY ENDS IN A CONTROVERSIAL NO-CONTEST; FRANCO RETAINS BELT
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 15 Nov 2020
Joshua Franco and Andrew Moloney's rematch for the WBA world superfly title on the co-feature of the Crawford-Brook WBO welterweight championship ended in a controversial no-contest as the fight was stopped in the beginning of the 3rd round as Franco was ruled by the ring physician not able to continue due the the swelling of his right eye that covered his vision. Referee Russell Mora earlier ruled that the swelling was caused by a headbutt in the first round.
Moloney started fast from the opening bell, throwing sharp left jabs, rights to the head and body, going in and out. Moloney threw 101 punches in the round according to Compubox and landed 25% of it. At the end of the round Franco returned to his corner with his right eye swelling and almost covered his vision. Referee Mora ruled that eye damaged on Franco was caused by a headbutt.
At the start of the second round, Mora had Franco's eye checked by the ring physician who allowed the fight to proceed. Moloney continued to pepper Franco with his jabs specifically targeting Franco's swelling right eye and rights to the head and digs to the body. Moloney appeared to easily take the first two rounds.
At the start of the third round, Referee Mora had Franco's right eye, which at this point transformed into a slit, checked again by the doctor who ruled that the fight could not continue.
Since Mora earlier ruled that the swelling was caused by the headbutt, the result could have been a no-decision since the fight did not complete four rounds. Moloney's corner and Bob Arum who promotes Moloney, protested to the officials arguing that the swelling was not caused by a headbutt.
It took 30 minutes for the review official headed by Robert Byrd to review the fight on video and come up with a decision which to stick to Referee Mora's ruling of an accidental headbutt that caused the swelling.
It looks like a third fight is inevitable because of the inconclusive outcome of the rematch. Moloney was cussing after the fight and explained that he saw Franco's right eye started to welt from his jab so he was kept on targeting it.
Moloney logged in 218 thrown punches, landing 51 of them to Franco's 78 punches thrown and 18 landed. Franco was lucky to get away with the no-contest decision and bring his title back home.
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