The oft-delayed bout between Argi Cortes and Andrew Moloney apparently hit one change too many.
BoxingScene has confirmed that Australia’s Moloney has formally withdrawn from his ordered IBF 115lbs title eliminator with Cortes. The bout was due to take place this weekend after two delays, but Moloney – a former WBA secondary titlist – bailed after the location was once again changed, this time from Durango to Cortes’ hometown of Mexico City, Mexico.
Cortes, 27-4-2 (11 KOs), will still move forward with the show, which will air on TV Azteca and ESPN Knockout. BoxingScene is working to confirm whether it will also still stream on ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.
The former title challenger will instead face Bairon Rodriguez, 11-3 (7 KOs), a Colombian junior bantamweight based in Barcelona, Spain. The bout will no longer carry IBF sanctioning, since Rodriguez is unranked by the sanctioning body.
“I really felt bad,” Cortes told BoxingScene upon learning the news. “Because it threw away all the technical work that had been done.”
ESPN Knockout’s Salvador “Chava” Rodriguez was first to report the opponent and location change.
Moloney, 27-4 (17 KOs), and his team have been in Mexico for several weeks, but they still had to delay their travel after the original plans were scrapped. He and Cortes were first due to meet on July 19 in Monterrey, but both the date and location were changed by event promoter Zanfer Boxing.
The card was then shifted to August 9 in Durango, which was then met with another one-week delay to this Saturday, August 16.
While the date remained in place, it was decided that the best location for the event would be in Mexico City. That was enough for Moloney to walk away from the show entirely.
Messages left for Moloney’s team and Zanfer Boxing, Cortes’ promoter, were not immediately returned as this article went to publication.
Meanwhile, Cortes hopes to extend his current two-fight win streak and remain at the doorstep of his next major title fight.
The 30-year-old contender has become best known for his spirited defeats more so than any given victory. He is the only fighter to go the distance with Junto Nakatani in a title fight. Cortes extended the three-division titlist the full 12 rounds in a September 2023 points loss for Nakatani’s WBO junior bantamweight title.
That moment came 54 weeks after a tough loss to countryman and then-lineal junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada in their September 2022 thriller in Hermosillo, Mexico.
Cortes rebounded from the defeat to Nakatani with two victories. His most recent victory came in a ninth-round knockout of Salvador Juarez in August 2024 in Mexico City.
Rodriguez steps up in class for the last-minute assignment while his career has hit a snag. The 20-year-old has lost three of his last four starts. The slide began with a 10-round defeat to unbeaten Yahir Alan Frank Verdugo in June 2024 in Merida – his lone other fight in Mexico. Rodriguez followed that with a 10-round decision loss to the 30-5 Alexis Diaz, a fourth-round TKO win over the 5-4 Andres Cifuentes, and a 10-round decision loss to the 8-0 Bruno Macho.
A win would have put Cortes in line to challenge recently crowned IBF 115lbs titlist Willibaldo Garcia. Instead, he accepts the consolation prize of a hometown fight – and the fact that he still gets to enter the ring.
“The fact that we can fight is already a huge relief, knowing that our opponent didn't want to fight anymore,” admitted Cortes. “But knowing that it's no longer an elimination round might take some of the excitement out of it.”
