Australian boxer Jason Moloney loses WBO bantamweight title

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Australia’s Jason Moloney has lost his WBO bantamweight world title to Japan’s Yoshiki Takei in a stunning upset at a packed Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Takei, 27, a former kickboxing world champion, only made the switch to boxing in 2020 and brought an 8-0 record into Monday’s bout, with all eight wins coming via knockout.

The challenger was forced to go the distance this time, but did more than enough to earn the victory on points over 12 rounds.

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Takei was declared the winner by unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the bout 117-110, 116-111 and 116-111 in his favour.

Against the 33-year-old Aussie, Takei took full advantage of his extra reach, keeping Moloney at bay and setting the agenda over a dominant first half of the fight.

Moloney battled his way into the fight over the middle stages, but Takei found a second wind and finished the stronger, surviving a furious final round to take his record to 9-0.

Moloney had won 27 of his 29 fights entering the clash with Takei, riding a six-fight winning streak dating back to his defeat to Inoue back in October 2020.

But this loss is a major setback in the career of the Victorian.

“I think he’s just a far more superior boxer,” commentator and Hall of Fame boxer Tim Bradley said of Takei in the closing stages.

“He’s the better athlete.”

When the fight got underway, challenger Takei was warned three times for low blows in the opening round.

A fourth low shot midway through the second round had the Japanese fighter docked a point in an early advantage for Moloney.

Southpaw Takei was intent on taking the fight to the Aussie, throwing more punches through the opening rounds as he aimed to wrestle the belt from the champion.

The home favourite landed 46 punches to just 16 from Moloney over the opening three rounds as he made a superb start.

It had the commentators questioning Moloney’s call to fight in Japan rather than at home for his second title defence.

“That’s a huge decision,” Bradley said. “His reasoning makes sense, he wants to fight in front of a big crowd, but he could’ve fought at home.

”You got home field advantage, you could bring this gentleman out there, why not do that?

“If this fight is close, he has to be worried. He has to dominate this fight tonight in order to get a decision.”

Takei continued to dominate the action, comfortably dictating terms over the opening five rounds as the home supporters started to sense an upset coming.

“There’s going to have to be a shift from Moloney in the game plan,” Bradley said.

“He’s going to have to take some risks, Takei is too superior on the outside.

“He needs to let his hands go to hope to catch Takei out of position.”

Moloney finally started to turn the contest from the sixth round, landing some heavy punches as the challenger started to tire and drop his hands.

Moloney rocked Takiei with a big straight right early in the eighth round, before the Japanese fighter signalled to the referee he was fighting without his mouth guard in a major blunder from his corner.

The Japanese fighter battled through a strong period for the Aussie and finished strongly, with Moloney unable to find the KO he needed in the 12th and final round.

Boxing returned to the Tokyo Dome for the first time since Buster Douglas shocked the sport by knocking out Mike Tyson, the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight champion, way back on February 11, 1990.

On a fight card that was dominated by Japanese fighters, Moloney entered the ring to Men at Work’s Land Down Under

He was making the second defence of the world title he first won in March 2023 in the US.

After winning the title in California and defending it in Quebec, Canada in January, Moloney has now fallen short of a second defence in Japan.

Moloney, whose twin brother Andrew Moloney is challenging Pedro Guevara for the WBC junior bantamweight crown in Perth this weekend, had hoped to head home with the WBO bantamweight belt around his waist.

But his dream fell short and will now force a rethink for Moloney and his camp.

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