![\"Boxing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Boxing_MD10610_resize.jpg\")
Photo By AAP Image\/Michael Dodge<\/p>\n\t\tPhoto By AAP Image\/Michael Dodge<\/p>\n
Talks have begun to bring Andrew Moloney\u2019s world title fight to Australia as the pint-sized champion eyes a move to Jai Opetaia\u2019s stable. The IBF has ordered that the winner of December\u2019s clash between Mexico\u2019s super flyweight champion Willibaldo Garcia and Japan\u2019s two-division king Kenshiro Teraji must fight the Australian before June 25 next year. Moloney, who shook off ring rust with a win in Fiji on Saturday, expects Teraji to beat the Mexican champion in their Saudi Arabia bout. The Kingscliff-based boxer, who stopped Indian Pawan Kumar in the fifth round in Suva, thinks Garcia has \u201csold his belt\u201d by seeking an exemption to delay their bout and fight on the big-money Saudi card. So a trip to Japan as challenger appears the likely route, but Moloney\u2019s manager Tony Tolj is hopeful an allegiance with Opetaia\u2019s Tasman Fighters can bring it home. Moloney spent a frustrating year waiting for a fight before a winning return in Fiji on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Tasman Fighters boss Mick Francis is preparing to host one of the country\u2019s deepest cards on December 6, when Opetaia will defend his IBF and The Ring cruiserweight belts for a seventh time. Heavyweights Justis Huni and Teremoana Teremoana, rising stars Max McIntyre and Austin Aokuso, as well as veteran Paul Fleming, fighting Jake Wyllie, all feature on the Gold Coast. Moloney\u2019s twin brother Jason will also make his Tasman Fighters debut after the brothers\u2019 deal with American promoter Top Rank expired. A bantamweight world champion less than a year ago, Jason has fought in front of more than 50,000 at the Tokyo Dome and hopes a union with Opetaia\u2019s team will rekindle his own title dream. Francis also promotes Brisbane-based Irish light heavyweight star Conor Wallace, who is on the cusp of his own world title opportunity. Opetaia and Huni will join Francis at a press conference in Sydney on Thursday to announce broadcasting details for the blockbuster Gold Coast card. But Francis has bigger plans brewing, the Gold Coast promoter already working to secure hometown title shots for Moloney and Wallace early next year. Moloney\u2019s Fiji victory was a relieving bright spot in an otherwise frustrating year.<\/p>\n
He spent nearly five weeks in Mexico preparing to fight Argi Cortes in an IBF eliminator before pulling out after the date and location was changed multiple times. The IBF awarded Moloney the Mandatory spot as challenger to Garcia\u2019s belt but then allowed the Mexican an exemption to fight in Saudi Arabia. That meant Moloney spent nearly a year out of the ring before Saturday\u2019s successful return. Jason Moloney defended his WBO bantamweight belt once before a gut-wrenching defeat in Tokyo last May when Yoshiki Takei, slumped on the ropes, was saved by the bell after dominating the early exchanges.<\/p>\n