Hall vs Gallen results: Jason Moloney trounces Dixon Flores in two rounds

In what the TV broadcasters hyped as a fight where Jason Moloney would face a sincere challenge from an aggressive opponent, we instead received a complete mismatch, as Moloney wiped out Dixon Flores in two rounds to retain a regional WBA bantamweight title.

While Flores (16-7-3, 5 KO) was ranked No. 9 by the WBA coming in, and was referred to as “no slouch” and “a world class opponent” on television, the rating was absurd, as sanctioning body rankings often are, and Moloney (20-1, 16 KO) completely trounced the Nicaraguan.

Live coverage for Hall vs Gallen continues here!

Flores went down in the opening round on a right hand, and was down again on a body shot in the second, from which he did not recover. He threw some punches at Moloney, but saying he provided any real resistance for Moloney would be quite a stretch.

“I really wanted to make a big statement and show that I’m ready to fight for a world title. Hopefully in 2020 I’ll achieve my dream,” Moloney said after the fight.

Moloney has, of course, proven himself legitimately capable at much higher levels. He stopped veteran Kohei Kono after six rounds in May 2018, and five months later had a fantastic fight with then-IBF titleholder Emmanuel Rodriguez in Orlando, losing a split decision in the opening round of the World Boxing Super Series. He remains a true contender, but his last three fights have been pretty absurd mismatches, and it’s time to get him back into a real fight.

Tej Singh D-6 Mitchell Whitelaw

Whitelaw (5-4-2, 2 KO) getting a draw here is an upset, and quite a story. We saw Whitelaw, a natural light heavyweight fighting at 168 here, earlier this year against Reagan Dessaix on the last Moloney twins card. He was game that night but overmatched, and that was expected in this one, too, especially given that he just barely made it into Melbourne for this fight, as he was coming from out in New South Wales where they’re dealing with major brushfires. He also took it on short notice.

But Whitelaw was fantastically game in this one and pushed Singh (15-4-3, 8 KO) for all six rounds. Singh is the current Australian middleweight champion, and a solid domestic-level fighter in the country, obviously. He was relentless coming forward here, but Whitelaw went right about dead even with him all the way, and had a nice fifth round in particular. Scores were 59-55 Singh, 58-56 Whitelaw, and 57-57. I had it 58-56 Singh, but no problem with the draw result. And it was a hell of a six-round scrap, too.

Jesse White UD-6 Paul Gould

Scores were 60-54, 60-54, 60-54 across the board here, but Gould (3-7, 1 KO) put up a fun, scrappy fight as the underdog here, and probably won at least a round. White (6-0, 0 KO) doesn’t have power but he’s got spirit, and could at least be a solid domestic middleweight in Australia.