Andrew Moloney suffers perforated eardrums in loss to Joshua Franco

Joshua Franco defied massive odds to batter Andrew Moloney last night, dropping the unbeaten Aussie in the 11th to avoid getting stuck with a majority draw. As it turns out, he did even more damage than we thought; Moloney began vomiting afterwards, resulting in a trip to the hospital, and ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna reports that he suffered two perforated eardrums in the fight.

Luckily, he’s since been released.

Moloney (21-1, 14 KO) was more than a -600 favorite in places despite a near-disaster against Elton Dharry last time out, but Franco (17-1-2, 8 KO) soon snowballed after a slow start, ultimately forcing Moloney’s gloves to touch the canvas in the penultimate round. Moloney’s grit was admirable, and these latest revelations make the 29-year-old Aussie’s survival all the more impressive.

Moloney’s twin brother Jason headlines Thursday night on ESPN; he was first booked against Oscar Negrete, who gave Franco three highly competitive and entertaining fights, but this bit of synchronicity was lost when “Jaguar” withdrew and was replaced by Leonardo Baez.