Exclusive: Andrew Moloney Says “He’s Ready” For Kal Yafai Fight

Andrew Moloney scored the biggest win of his career on September 8 and is now gunning for the WBA super flyweight world title. 

The undefeated Australian contender defeated former world champion Luis Concepcion by TKO in the 10th round of a fight card in Australia, retaining his WBA Oceania title and putting him one step closer to challenging for his first world title. 

Although Moloney is ranked by all four major governing bodies, his number one priority is getting a chance to win the WBA title currently being held by Kal Yafai. In an exclusive interview with Fightful, Moloney spoke on that win over Concepcion and possibly fighting for a world title next.

Regarding the win over Concepcion, Moloney did admit that there are things he can improve on, but when it came to executing his gameplan of using his footwork to outbox Concepcion, Moloney was happy to have been able to limit whatever his opponent brought to the table.

“I am happy with the result getting a TKO victory over a former two division world champion but I know that I can still perform better than I did on Saturday night. I have watched the fight a couple of times already and there is a few things I will work on to make sure in my next fight I can deliver an even better performance,” Moloney said. “I started landing some solid punches pretty early in the fight so I knew if I could pick the right shots and time them well there was a good chance I could get the stoppage victory.” 

But Moloney didn’t simply came out with a victory. He had been dominating the fight, winning almost every round and was even more aggressive as the fight got deeper. After taking down a former world champion who is still a contender by TKO, Moloney believed that this was the type of performance which deserves a world title opportunity. 

“I believe my victory over Concepcion was more impressive than Yafai’s win over Concepcion and I also believe I can perform even better than this so I am very confident that I can beat Yafai when we do face each other. I can’t speak on behalf of Yafai’s team and I don’t know what their plans are but I am ready to fight him whenever and wherever they like,” Moloney said.

Now that Moloney can focus on his world title aspirations, the young Australian said he would love it if Yafai were to come to his home country, but would be willing to travel anywhere for the fight. In a previous interview, Moloney said he would like to fight in the United States sometime in 2019 and with both Yafai and Moloney having fought previously on separate ESPN+ cards, the possibilities of the title fight landing stateside are certainly there. 

“Of course I would love the fight to be in Australia but I am also happy to fight in America or England. I really don’t mind where it is, I just want my shot. I believe I am now ready to face any of the champions, I will leave that decision to my team but the WBA title is the one we have been chasing for a long time [after having] defended my WBA Oceania title nine times now,” Moloney said. 

Moloney retained his WBA Oceania title against Concepcion, his ninth defense of the belt he had won back in 2016.