A display of maturity and an outstanding game plan have catapulted Australian Andrew Moloney into the flyweight gold medal bout at the Commonwealth Games.
The 23-year-old Victorian stunned a raucous home crowd to beat Scotland's Reece McFadden on a split decision in his semi-final and earn a place in Saturday's final against Pakistan's Muhammad Waseem.
Moloney had sparred with McFadden during a recent camp with the Scottish team in Ireland.
His tactic of keeping the Scot at arm's length and not letting him dictate the pace of the fight paid dividends as he became the first Australian to reach a Commonwealth Games final in eight years.
Moloney said the key to his victory was shutting out the home crowd and not getting into a brawl with the aggressive Glaswegian, and he admitted it was a fight he would have lost earlier in his career.
"Every time he threw a punch the crowd roared and I think that's what threw off his other opponents when they fought him here," Moloney said.
"He's throws a lot of punches, but only after you've thrown a punch. The plan was to be patient and not make mistakes by rushing in.
"A few years ago the crowd would have been against me and I would have tried to stop the fight by going for a knock-out.
"But that was the total opposite of what I did tonight ... I am bit smarter now and I got the win.
"But I have to win the gold now."
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