Jason Moloney was provided with plenty of motivation to win his Las Vegas debut, which came just two nights after watching his twin brother Andrew suffer his first career defeat in the very same town.
However, the pair of Australian little big men already came armed with big plans and competitive drive long before their respective bouts.
For Jason Moloney, it meant looking good enough against Mexicali’s Leonardo Baez to entice the big guns in the bantamweight division, such as Japan’s Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16KOs) and Philippines’ John Riel Casimero (29-4, 20KOs). He did just that, stopping Baez after the 7th round of their June 25 ESPN headliner from MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
“It’s definitely motivation, going into the ring knowing those big fights are within reach as long as you keep winning,” Moloney (21-1, 17KOs) told BoxingScene.com. “Andrew and I are in stacked divisions (Andrew competes at 115-pounds), So we always have to show we are ready and to make a statement whenever we fight.”
Whereas it fell short for Andrew (21-1, 14KOs)—who suffered his first loss and the end of his title reign in a 12-round defeat to Joshua Franco on a June 23 ESPN card—it worked wonders for Jason Moloney. The 29-year old top-rated bantamweight suffered his lone career defeat in a title fight, dropping a heartbreaking 12-round decision to then-unbeaten titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez in October 2018.
Four straight wins have followed, all inside the distance and all catching the eyes of the sanctioning bodies. Moloney is rated high among all four major alphabet organizations, with hopes of cashing in one of those chips within his next fight or two.
“Really, I want any of the champions—Naoya Inoue, John Riel Casimero, Nordine Oubaali,” acknowledges Moloney. “One dream fight, if I had to pick just one would be a shot at Inoue. My dream is to become a world champion. He’s got two belts (plus past title reigns at junior flyweight and junior bantamweight). Knocking off a fighter like that, it will do wonders for my career.”
Inoue is eyeing an opportunity to reschedule his canceled April 26 three-belt unification with Casimero. Moloney was due to have fought Joshua Greer Jr. on that same card.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox