Written by Murray Wenzel Australian Associated Press
00:07 May 7, 2024, updated 00:13 May 7, 2024
- He suffered a shocking loss to Japan's Yoshiki Takei.
- Returned home with wet sails but could not find the knockout blow
- He will now play a return match against the same Australian.
A desperate last-second knockout attempt on Jason Moloney failed as the Australian lost his WBO boxing world bantamweight title to Japanese upstart Yoshiki Takei in Tokyo.
Australia currently has no reigning world champion in men's boxing, as the 33-year-old suffered a unanimous points loss (his first in four years) to a man in his ninth professional boxing bout.
In his second title defense, Moloney (27-3) set an appearance record for an Australian boxer.
And on Monday night, the 55,000 people who filled Tokyo Dome almost witnessed the champion's miraculous final-round KO victory.
Takei, a former kickboxing world champion, dominated the first five rounds.
He landed at least 10 punches in each round, but Moloney only made contact with six.
The Australian found some rhythm in the middle rounds, but Takei, who avoided a points deduction for an excessive low blow in the second round, stabilized again and looked on course for his first title.
However, with one minute left in the 12th round, his guard relaxed and Moloney, sensing his chance, sent Takei staggering across the ring with a flurry of punches.
Moloney's last gasp swing left the challenger hanging on the ropes, but Takei was saved by the sound of the bell, safe in the knowledge that he had put in enough effort in the early rounds to win his first title.
Two judges scored the bout 116-112, and another gave it 117-110 to Takei.
Pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue (the last man to defeat Moloney) defended his status as the undisputed junior featherweight in a heated battle with Mexico's Luis Nery.
Neri knocked down the champion in the first round, but the undefeated Inoue's reaction was swift, sending him to the canvas in the next round and winning again for good in the sixth round.
The Australian could be his next target. After the match, undefeated IBF mandatory challenger Sam Goodman entered the ring and aggressively challenged the champion.
It was an invitation that the Japanese accepted with a curt handshake, and unless Inoue moves up a weight class, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is considering a fight as early as September.
Moloney's loss again ends his chances of holding a world title alongside his twin brother Andrew, who won and lost their respective world title fights in the United States last year.
The timeline for his return to the world title strap is currently unclear, but given that four different fighters from this country currently hold various bantamweight titles, it is almost certain that it will pass through Japan. It is.
Andrew will fight in Perth on Sunday, challenging Mexico's Pedro Guevara for the vacant WBC interim super flyweight belt and the chance to replace his brother as the country's only male world champion.
He will only hold that mantle for a few minutes before taking on George Kambosos Jr. and Vasily Lomachenko for the vacant IBF lightweight title in the main event.
Undefeated cruiserweight Jay Opetaia, who was forced to relinquish his IBF title earlier this year, has a chance to regain it in a rematch with Mairis Briedis in Saudi Arabia later this month.