WBO bantamweight champion Jason ‘Mayhem’ Moloney 27-2 (19) has been soaking up the big fight atmosphere ahead of his title defence against Yoshiki Takei 8-0 (8) at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan tonight.
The 33-year-old Australian will make the second defence of his world title on a bumper card headlined by undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue 26-0 (23) putting up his belts and undefeated record against Mexican southpaw Luis Nery 35-1 (27).
Also on the card WBA bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue 19-1 (5) will defend his strap against Sho Ishida 34-3 (17) and WBA flyweight boss Seigo Yuri Akui 19-2-1 (11) will rematch Taku Kuwahara 13-1 (8) in the first defence of his bauble.
The mammoth card is expected to draw a live crowd of 55,000 fight fans.
“I’m excited to be here and to be able to fight, especially on this, the biggest event in Japanese boxing history at the Tokyo Dome,” said Moloney following a media workout last week.
“This is a very exciting opportunity and one that I’ve trained extremely hard for to make it a very successful and memorable night in my life. And I’m very excited to be here, but I’m here for one job and that’s to defend my title and win this fight.
“I’m expecting a hard fight, but I’ve put in the hard work to make sure I’m victorious.”
Japanese southpaw Takei, 27, comes from a kickboxing background where he was once world champion. Like many ex-kickboxers, he has an aggressive style predicated on looking for the knockout.
“His distance is different coming from a kickboxing background, so we prepared very hard for his unique style,” assessed Moloney. “He’s had eight fights and eight knockouts and this is a big step up for him. It’s obvious his team has a lot of belief in his ability.”
“I need to put on a great performance, win this fight and then I’m ready to unify with any of the other bantamweight champions. I want the big fights and I have to beat Takei to make them happen.”
Unification would likely require Moloney to make a return trip to Japan. Along with Takuma Inoue currently holding the WBA belt and Junto Nakatani 27-0 (20) reigning as WBC king, Ryosuke Nishida 9-0 (1) was crowned IBF boss on the weekend with his unanimous decision win over Emmanuel Rodriguez 22-3 (13) in Osaka, Japan.
Moloney was tabbed to box alongside his twin brother Andrew on the undercard of the vacant IBF lightweight title fight between Vasiliy Lomachenko 17-3 (11) and George Kambosos Jr 21-2 (12) at the RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia on May 12, but opted to box in Japan instead.
“It was a difficult decision to make as they were two very exciting opportunities,” Moloney told The Ring. “I really want to be involved in the biggest and best fights possible and to fight in front of 55,000 people at Tokyo Dome on the biggest show in Japanese boxing history was an opportunity that I couldn’t refuse.
“I think the fight with Takei on this huge platform was the right move for my career and a win in this fight sets up some huge opportunities for the future.”
