A nice hotel room with a balcony and a view of the picturesque Sydney skyline sounds nice, right?
Imagine if you weren’t allowed to leave that room at all for two weeks for anything other than a fire. You’re required to eat all of your meals in that room or on that balcony.
You’re not even given a room key, just in case stir craziness convinced you to take just a short, albeit boring walk down the hall.
Welcome to the restrained world of Andrew and Jason Moloney, the Australian twin boxers who’ve been confined to a government-supervised, 14-day quarantine since their flight from the United States arrived August 19. They’ll finally fly home from Sydney on Thursday to Kingscliff, where Andrew’s wife, Chelsea, their 2-year-old son, Lee, Jason’s pregnant fiancée, Jorja, and their 2-year-old daughter, Isla, anxiously await their returns from a seven-week boxing journey that took them to Las Vegas and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Melbourne natives live near each other in Kingscliff, just south of the Queensland border, but they’ve been allowed to stay in the same room since they touched down in Sydney because they’re family members. Their manager, Tony Tolj, is in the room next door, which has at least allowed them to talk to Tolj from their adjacent balcony.
The Moloney brothers both laughed at the thought of how appreciative they are of that balcony. They couldn’t go outside at all during either of their first two 14-day quarantines in different Sydney hotels after each of their previous fights – which took place two days apart late in June 2020 and then two weeks apart last October 31 and November 14.
“Last time, it did feel like prison because we had no fresh air at all,” Andrew Moloney told BoxingScene.com. “We couldn’t even open up a window, so that was really tough. So, the balcony this time has been a real lifesaver. You can sort of see the city of Sydney, but mainly it’s the fresh air. It’s amazing what a difference that makes.”
Quarantine life would’ve been at least a little more tolerable for Andrew Moloney (21-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC) if the super flyweight contender hadn’t lost his third fight to rival Joshua Franco (18-1-2, 8 KOs, 1 NC), who beat Moloney by unanimous decision in ESPN’s 12-round main event August 14 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa. Jason Moloney (22-2, 18 KOs), a top bantamweight contender, defeated Joshua Greer Jr. (22-3-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 10-rounder on his brother’s undercard 2½ weeks ago.
Watching his brother lose in a WBA world 115-pound title fight later that night made Jason Moloney feel as though he lost, too. They have watched Andrew’s loss to Franco several times to help pass the time during quarantine, but otherwise they’re not avid television watchers.
They’ve trained lightly as much as their small space will allow. The Moloneys, who are promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., also have scheduled video chats with family and friends each night, all while counting down “the sleeps” until they can head home.
“I think you’re slightly prepared for it after you do it a couple times and you get a bit better at finding ways to entertain yourself a little bit, I guess,” Jason Moloney said. “But it’s still a very, very slow 14 days.”
Their experience is very different from that of American boxers, who are allowed to return home immediately from fights in a country that has unsuccessfully taken a much more lenient approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
At least, though, the Moloney brothers will be able to leave their homes once they return to Kingscliff, a small, coastal community less than two hours south of Brisbane. They can go out to exercise each day and for essential activities, things such as medical appointments and grocery shopping.
Tolj will be required to endure another 14-day quarantine in his house in Perth because COVID restrictions are even tighter in Western Australia. Police could come to Tolj’s home multiple times in a given day to make sure he hasn’t left.
Authorities in New South Wales have escalated enforcement of tightened restrictions over the summer to aggressively deal with the deadlier Delta variant of COVID-19.
“It is frustrating, it is hard,” Jason Moloney said. “But when you look at the way Australia has dealt with the COVID situation and the numbers of deaths we’ve had from COVID, you can see why they’ve put in such strict measures. And it has worked. Whether you like it or not, it has worked. That makes it a little bit easier because we are helping save lives in a way.
“It’s preventing us from potentially spreading the virus, so yeah, it is what it is and I do understand the measures. I do hope that this all comes to an end soon, because at some stage we do need to start living life with a bit of normality. I hope this is the last time we have to do this, but I do understand why it has to be done and I guess it is working.”
This trip has been particularly trying for Jorja, who is due to deliver her and Jason’s second child in less than two weeks. Their three trips to the U.S. for fights since May 2020 and previous bouts have forced Andrew to miss about eight months of the two years since Lee was born in July 2019.
“It’s been extremely, extremely tough on our families and our partners,” Jason Moloney said. “Both myself and Andrew have young kids we’ve had to leave at home, which has been the hardest part of this whole thing. My daughter is 2½ now and my fiancée is pregnant. So, to leave her and my daughter for such a long stretch of time has been tough. This time has been seven weeks. The time before that was nine weeks and the time before that another nine weeks. We’ve spent a huge, huge chunk of my daughter’s time alive away. I haven’t been there to spend time with her, which has been hard.
“So, when I go home, she’s like a completely different person and grown up so much. It really hurts when you think of how much time of her life I’ve already missed, but I guess these are the sacrifices you have to make if you want to achieve your dreams. And Andrew and I have shown time and time again that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to become world champions and achieve our dreams.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.