Andrew Moloney will finally receive his overdue mandatory title shot.
BoxingScene has confirmed that the IBF has scheduled a March 5 purse bid hearing for its ordered title fight between defending 115lbs beltholder Willibaldo Garcia and Australia’s Moloney as his top-rated challenger. The ruling was handed down on Tuesday, following the end of their 30-day negotiation period which ended without a deal in place.
As is the case with any purse bid hearing, both sides can still come to terms just before the session is officially set to begin. Absent that, the now overdue mandatory title fight is now at the mercy of the highest bidder.
Representatives for Garcia, 23-6-2 (13 KOs), were open to a full unification bout with lineal, RING, WBC, WBA and WBO champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, 23-0 (16 KOs). Matchroom Boxing, representing Rodriguez on that end, offered a lucrative step-aside package to Moloney, 27-4 (16 KOs), to move forward with the undisputed championship.
Such a bout would have been conditional on the winner agreeing in writing to next face Moloney, though it was never under consideration on the challenger’s side.
Moloney already went down that road when Garcia filed an exception to instead face former two-division champ Kenshiro Teraji last December 27 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Both parties confirmed to the IBF their willingness to face Moloney with a win in that clash.
Garcia ran into trouble, however, when he fell ill shortly after making weight for their scheduled 12-round contest. He was subsequently hospitalized and forced to bow out of the title fight, leaving Teraji to drop off the show altogether.
IBF officials confirmed that Garcia was out of exceptions at that point, including full unification which would normally trump a mandatory title defense.
Garcia has yet to defend the title he claimed in a split decision victory over countryman Rene Calixto in their IBF 115lbs title fight rematch last May 23 in Zacatecas, Mexico. The win came five months after the two fought to a spirited draw in their December 2024 vacant title fight in Tokoname, Japan.
Moloney fought just once in 2025, a rust-shaking knockout victory in Suva, Fiji. The opportunity was secured after his time was wasted in an oft-rescheduled and ultimately canceled IBF title eliminator versus former title challenger Argi Cortes.
Per IBF rules, both boxers must commit to the purse bid process and the fight itself. Should Garcia drop out of the fight at this point, he will be stripped of the title. Conversely, Moloney will be removed from his mandatory challenger position if he is unable for any reason to move forward with the contest.
The purse bid is open to all IBF-registered promoters, provided they submit a nonrefundable $5,000 participation fee no later than five days prior to the hearing. From there, the winning bidder is required to pay a combined 20 percent deposit of the total bid within five business days.
