Newly crowned WBO bantamweight champion Jason ‘Mayhem’ Moloney 26-2 (19) has reflected on his title winning affort against Vincent ‘Astro Boy’ Astrolabio on the weekend and revealed his future plans.
The 32-year-old Australian won a majority decision over the tough Filipino at Stockton Arena in San Francisco, California on Saturday night by score of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112, although the fight appeared much wider than that.
“It has been my lifelong dream to be one world champion,” Moloney said to ProBox TV News. “It is what I have been working for my whole life. I’ve been boxing nearly 20 years, professional for nine years. To finally have achieved the one big goal I set myself feels amazing. I couldn’t be happier mate, it’s a dream come true.
“It was a tough fight with Astrolabio, world titles don’t come easy. I knew he was going to be very hungry to win the belt as well.
“In the third or fourth round I hit him on the top of the head with my right hand and started getting excruciating pain there for the rest of the fight. I had to adapt and change up the game plan slightly and get behind my jab and keep the distance a bit more.
“I used my jab much more than I had initially had planned. I think it worked well, maybe hurting my right hand might have been a bit of a blessing. Getting behind the jab, boxing and moving seemed to cause him a lot of trouble.
“It did prevent me from going through the gears a bit more and trying to really break him down. I think if I could have used the right hand I probably would have broken him down. Maybe a later round stoppage. But credit to him, he was a very tough fighter. I had to be a bit smarter, I did keep throwing the right but every time I landed it the pain was excruciating.
“I had to really pick my moments when to let it go. We felt in control, I went back to my corner and constantly kept checking in, asking how we are going. My team in the corner were very confident, they said I was winning every round. They certainly would never sugar coat it for me.
“We thought it was maybe 10 rounds to two or nine rounds to three. Then when I heard 114-114, I just couldn’t believe it. My heart dropped and it took me back to the Emmanuel Rodriguez defeat where I lost a split-decision. Thankfully the other two judges got it much more correct and now we are champion of the world and I couldn’t be happier.”
Rather than resting on his laurels and soaking up his latest win, Moloney is already plotting his next move.
“The first goal was to become world champion, but the job is not complete,” Moloney explained. “Now we look to become undisputed. Obviously we need to see who picks up the belts. There are some really exciting fights in the bantamweight division.
“Nonito Donaire is still a fight that I am very interested in. He is a future Hall of Famer and a legend of the lighter weights. To get a victory over him would be amazing for my resume.
“I could get revenge over Emmanuel Rodriguez, that is something that really excites me, to get revenge from that fight in 2018. Then I guess there is revenge involved with Takuma Inoue, given that his brother beat me.
“There are some great fights at bantamweight, we will have to wait and see what happens to the rest of these belts. The ultimate goal now is to line them up and beat them all.”
