WBO number five ranked contender Yoshiki Takei 8-0 (8) believes straight punches will be the key to defeating WBO 118-pound champion Jason ‘Mayhem’ Moloney 27-2 (19) when they meet at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on May 6.
Not only is the 27-year-old Japanese southpaw predicting victory, he plans to become just the second boxer to defeat Moloney inside the distance after his countryman Naoya Inoue stopped the 33-year-old Australian in seven rounds four years ago.
Takei, the former winner of the K-1 super bantamweight grand prix, spoke to the media about his ambitions after an open workout at the Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama.
“Since my opponent this time is strong, I have been training myself hard,” Takei explained. “I don’t think I can beat him unless I improve myself from the time of the (March 8) press conference and have achieved a great progress within a short period.
“During my sparring sessions, I myself was amazed at the kind of technique (punch) I never showed.”
Takei’s trainer Akira Yaegashi elaborated on this, saying the have been working on developing his punch technique.
“It’s a one-two straight,” he explained. “Though Takei has got a big punch and technique, he has rarely used straight punches in his past fights.
“He displayed straight punches in his punching-bag hitting and mitt hitting. He now can show straight punches in his sparring. I think he can show that punch in the upcoming fight.’’
Gym owner Hideyuki Ohashi said: “In the first place, there are not many cases where a challenger has an advantage over a champion. But considering Takei’s boxing, he is a good challenger. I hope he will go against experts’ expectation.”
Takei added: ‘’I will win it by knocking him out.’’
That might be easier said than done against a veteran like Moloney, who says he expected to be well support by the local crowd on fight night.
“It’s surprised me… I don’t know if Takei is very well liked in Japan, but I’m getting a fair bit of support,” Moloney told AAP.
“It seems like quite a few Japanese want me to win.
“Maybe they don’t think he’s worthy possibly, after eight boxing fights.
“If I can notch an impressive win here I’ll have plenty more fans. Who knows, I might be fighting out of Japan a bit more often.”
He added: “I think they like the humble champions over there. They all seem to like my fighting spirit against Inoue and how I dealt with the loss.
“No excuses; I showed respect and bounced back and improved and became a champion.
“They liked those characteristics and mentioned that they loved the fact I showed that I learned from the fight.
“Where guys like Stephen Fulton (who lost to Inoue last year) disappear and go off spending the money and aren’t humble in defeat.”
The Moloney vs Takei fight will take place on the undercard of the undisputed super bantamweight championship clash between Naoya Inoue 26-0 (23) and Luis Nery 35-1 (27).
