There were two thoughts that immediately raced to Andrew Moloney’s mind after watching his twin brother Jason win his first major title.
First was the overwhelming feeling of joy as his older brother by one minute was announced as the new WBO bantamweight titlist after his majority decision win over Vincent Astrolabio last weekend in Stockton, California. Immediately after that was the realization that the job was only halfway done.
“I’m so incredibly happy for Jason,” Andrew Moloney told BoxingScene.com. “Now It’s my turn to go out and do the same thing.”
The “younger” twin is set for his first shot at a primary title, as he faces Japan’s Junto Nakatani for the vacant WBO junior bantamweight strap. Their scheduled twelve-round bout takes place this Saturday on ESPN from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The same venue will host the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko ESPN Pay-Per-View main event which immediately follows ESPN’s linear coverage of Moloney-Nakatani and select undercard bouts.
Moloney (25-2, 16KOs) previously held the WBA ‘Regular’ junior bantamweight title but never had the chance to fight for the full crown. His shot at the real thing comes one week after being ringside for Jason’s title win on his third try, having previously fallen short in title bids versus Emmanuel Rodriguez in October 2018 and Naoya Inoue in October 2020.
Andrew enters as a +250 underdog according to bet365 versus Nakatani (24-0, 18KOs), a former WBO flyweight titlist who the same sportsbook lists as a -350 favorite. Still, the streaking contender from Australia—who has won four in a row since his trilogy with Joshua Franco (18-1-3, 8KOs) where he went 0-2 and one No-Contest—is not only riding a winning streak but a wave of emotion and familial momentum heading into this weekend.
“It was just amazing,” Andrew said of watching Jason win his first title. “We know more than anyone what each other had to go through these past twenty years. We’ve done it all side by side. There was a lot on the line, being his third shot at a world title.
“Round by round, I knew it was his moment and that he’d done enough at the end. I couldn’t be happier for him. I didn’t need any more motivation to get up for Junto Nakatani but my brother certainly provided it for me to go out there and get the job done this weekend.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox