Australia’s Jason Moloney has vowed to avenge the brutal KO of twin brother Andrew that was branded “sickening” by Jeff Fenech – and robbed the siblings of national sporting history – as part of his blueprint to unify boxing’s bantamweight division.
After finally realising his world title dream in 2023, Moloney is now readying to defend his WBO strap for the first time in this Sunday’s hyped championship showdown against American Saul Sanchez in Quebec City, Canada.
Apart from vowing to beat Sanchez with a “statement” win, the fighter dubbed ‘Mayhem’ is also eyeing off three more potential rivals with whom he shares “bad blood” – most notably, undefeated Japanese star Junto Nakatani.
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Back in May last year, it was Nakatani who viciously kayoed Andrew Moloney on his way to winning the WBO super flyweight title – with Fenech describing the punch that left Australia’s title contender momentarily unconscious as “sickening”.
The brutal looping left hand, which earned Top Rank’s KO of the Year, also robbed the nation’s famed fighting twins of national boxing history, given they were looking to become world champions only days apart.
A week earlier, it was Jason who had fought, and beat, tough Filipino Vincent Astrolabio to claim the WBO bantamweight crown.
And while the new champ had then planned to celebrate in Las Vegas with his brother, he was instead forced to watch on from the corner as Nakatani not only knocked Andrew cold, but then celebrated the win as he lay sprawled out on the canvas.
Yet with the Japanese southpaw now moving up to bantamweight in 2024, and fighting WBC champ Alexandro Santiago in February, Moloney could effectively gain revenge for the family this year.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia from Canada this week, the champ revealed that while extremely focused on Sanchez, he also knows a win will catapult him into several big fights, including a possible shot at redemption against Nakatani.
Asked his recollections of the KO, Moloney said: “Standing in Andrew’s corner that night, I felt I let him down”.
The Aussie also stressed he has not forgotten the way Nakatani celebrated while his brother was still unconscious on the canvas, describing it as “very hard to take”.
Elsewhere, the new WBO champ is also gunning for showdowns with IBF champ Emmanuel Rodriguez – who beat him via a contentious split decision in 2018 – and WBA champion Takuma Inoue.
Inoue, of course, is the brother of Japanese megastar Naoya Inoue, who stopped Moloney three years ago to reclaim his IBF and WBA straps.
“So there’s three great, exciting fights there, and all of them with bad blood,” Moloney told Fox Sports Australia.
“With all three of those guys, there is history there.
“Rodriguez, he still holds the IBF belt after beat me by split decision in 2018
“I’ve been hanging to get revenge on him for five years.
“You’ve also got Inoue’s brother, too.
“So while it wouldn’t be Noaya Inoue personally, to beat his brother would definitely be getting one back in a sense.”
The other intriguing battle, should he triumph in February, is Nakatani.
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“If he was to claim the belt, obviously I’d be extremely motivated to get one back there,” Moloney confirmed.
“Watching Andrew go down to him that night, it was devastating.
“I felt so bad for my brother.
“Felt I’d let him down in a sense too because, being the big brother, I wasn’t able to protect him and look after him.
“Plus, I not only had to sit there in the corner and watch someone knock my brother out, but then to start running around celebrating (while Andrew was unconscious) … he was very to have just become world champion but it’s very hard to sit there and take that.
“So if I can get one back, knock him out myself … that would be special.”
Pushed on a Nakatani title fight, Moloney continued: “There’s obviously a lot of hype around him right now.
“He’s a multiple division champion, undefeated, and now moving up again.
“So he’s on a mission.
“He wants to keep climbing the divisions and taking on the champions.
“So to be in Andrew’s corner that night and watch him get knocked out the way he was, I’d absolutely love a chance at redemption.
“Given the opportunity to jump in the ring and try to get my revenge, yeah, that one would have a lot of feeling in it.”
While Moloney admitted that Rodriguez was currently “top of my wish list”, he quickly added that “I’ve got business with all of them that needs to be settled”.
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