Andrew Moloney responded positively to his second professional defeat by battering a stubborn former contender Tuesday night in Sydney.

The Australian super flyweight contender battered the Philippines’ Froilan Saludar throughout the 10-round main event of a card ESPN+ streamed from The Star Event Centre in New South Wales’ capital city. The 30-year-old Moloney, a former WBA secondary 115-pound champion, won by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 98-91.

Moloney (22-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC), of Kingscliff, Australia, landed a variety of left hooks and right hands to Saludar’s head and body with regularity, but he couldn’t get rid of the tremendously tough flyweight world title challenger. The 32-year-old Saludar (32-5-1, 22 KOs), of Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines, has lost by knockout or technical knockout three times in his 12-year career, yet he refused to let it happen again.

“I mean, all these Filipinos, I’ve fought quite a lot of them now, they’re just so tough,” Moloney said. “They don’t get the credit they deserve. And boy, he was so tough. A few times I thought I might’ve had him there, but just his head is made out of concrete or something – just so tough.”  

Saludar took an alarming amount of punishment throughout the ninth and 10th rounds, but he refused to go down, no more how often Moloney landed to his head and body. Moloney hurt his resilient opponent toward the end of the final round, but Saludar stayed on his feet until the final bell.

A left hook to the body by Moloney impacted Saludar just after the midway mark of the eighth round. Moloney spent most of those three minutes battering Saludar with head and body shots, but Saludar continued to take those punches and occasionally fired back with power punches of his own.

Moloney viciously pounded away at Saludar for almost the entire final two minutes of the seventh round, when Saludar was backed against the ropes and absorbed a lot of punishment.

Saludar showed a lot of toughness during the sixth round. Moloney backed him into the ropes with just over a minute left in that round and unloaded an array of left hooks and right hands to Saludar’s head.

Moloney landed two right hands with just under 50 seconds to go in the fifth round. Saludar hit Moloney with several right hands of his own in the fifth round, but Moloney mostly controlled that action in those three minutes as well.

Moloney hammered away at Saludar again throughout the fourth round. He drilled Saludar with a right hand with just over 1:05 on the clock in that round and affected Saludar with a left to the body when there were about 30 seconds on the clock in it.

Moloney dominated Saludar during the third round.

He started softening up Saludar when he landed three hard lefts to the body within a 15-second span early in the third round. A left-right combination by Moloney backed up Saludar with just over 1:40 remaining in the third round.

Moloney then spent most of the second half of the third round battering Saludar with hard head shots.

Moloney’s overhand right drilled Saludar with just under 1:20 on the clock in the second round. Saludar effectively went to Moloney’s body during the final minute of the second round.

A right-left combination by Moloney landed with just under 1:10 to go in the first round. Saludar had success during the second of the opening round, particularly with his left hook, after Moloney mostly blocked his right hands during the first half of that first round.

Nine rounds later, Moloney ended 2021 on a positive note after losing his third fight against rival Joshua Franco by unanimous decision August 14. San Antonio’s Franco (18-1-2, 8 KOs, 1 NC) decisively defeated Moloney in a 12-round main event ESPN televised from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Franco and Moloney settled for a controversial no-contest in their previous fight.

Moloney got off to a strong start in that immediate rematch for Franco’s WBA secondary 115-pound championship in November 2020, but severe swelling surrounding Franco’s right eye prevented him from continuing during the second round.

Referee Russell Mora ruled that an accidental clash of heads in the first round caused Franco’s swelling. Moloney’s team claimed one of his punches caused that damage, which should’ve resulted in him winning by second-round technical knockout once Franco couldn’t continue.

An infamously lengthy replay review at ringside complicated matters even more that night. Moloney’s team protested the official result, but it was denied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.