Former WBO bantamweight world champion Jason ‘Mayhem’ Moloney is targeting a second spell at the top in 2026, having recently inked a promotional pact with fellow Australian Mick Francis.
Moloney (28-4, 20 KOs) returned to his homeland last month with a fourth-round stoppage victory against the little-known 14-2 (10 KOs) Filipino, Herlan Gomez, deep on the Jai Opetaia-Huyseyin Cinkara undercard in a routine eight-rounder.
“They’ve proved what they can do with Jai Opetaia and Justis Huni,” Moloney said in an exclusive interview with FightsATW. “They know what they are doing and are able to build legit superstars in the sport. We met up for a coffee; Mick and I spoke for a couple of hours and he basically said that he was willing to give me the opportunity to have one more roll at the dice, I guess. Mick was great and said he’s going to get me three/four flights a year and invest in the fights to get me back to where I want to be.
“I’m really happy because without him I was stuffed. I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to resurrect my career and rebuild. I had the first fight with Tasman on December 6, which was great, and I got a good win. Now we are looking to lock in the next fight in hopefully March or April. We look for another tough opponent and look for another good win that will put me into title contention as quickly as we can. The ultimate goal is to finish the year as a two-time world champion.”
Moloney hadn’t fought on home soil since a unanimous-decision win against Navapon Khaikanha on the Devin Haney-George Kambosos 2 undercard in Melbourne on October 16, 2022. The next four fights would send the Australian through the highest and lowest points of his career. Claiming the world title with a majority-decision victory over Astrolobio followed in Stockton, California.
Moloney would defend his WBO strap eight months later to a standing ovation on the Artur Beterbiev-Callum Smith undercard at Centre Videotron in Quebec City against Saul Sanchez, claiming a majority decision. However, Moloney would travel to the Tokyo Dome to relinquish his title to fast-tracked 8-0 (8 KOs) Yoshiki Takei by unanimous decision, in a contest he admits ‘I started too late’.
Despite the defeat on his Japanese debut, kick-boxer turned boxer with rockstar status, Tenshin Nasukawa, welcomed Moloney back to The Land of the Rising Sun as a stepping stone toward his own world title shot. Sadly, Moloney would taste a consecutive unanimous-decision defeat, but many thought he was unfairly treated by the judges.
“I felt Iike I learnt a lot from the Takei fight and thought I had the right gamelan going into the Tenshin fight,” Moloney said. “It was a very frustrating fight. I thought that I was having the better moments and landing the better shots. When we were exchanging, I thought I was getting the better of those exchanges. I definitely hurt him a couple of times during the fight. Anytime he would engage with me, I would have a lot of success, but then he would get on his bike and move around, and it would make it very hard to trap him. He was very good on his feet. Looking back, you always think where you could do better, and I’ve been thinking I could have cut the ring off a bit better and forced him to fight my fight a bit better.
“I had a lot of people in Japan tell me that I won the fight. It was a tough one when being in the fight, as I was having some successful moments, but when I wasn’t able to get hold of him, even though he wasn’t landing anything, I did feel like ‘they are going to give Tenshin some of these rounds!’ The people in Japan are very fair, but anytime you are in somebody else’s backyard, you always feel you have to go the extra mile to win the rounds. I thought at the end of the fight that they were going to give it to Tenshin, which was frustrating because I felt like I could have and should have won the fight. Besides two or three shots that he landed, I was never hurt. The next day, it didn’t even look like I had been in a fight. You live, and you learn, and obviously a win there would have set me up for some big fights.”
The defeat left Moloney and his career in tatters. A route back to the top was a fading dream following back-to-back losses and with no promoter to plot his path.
“I was pretty low,” Moloney expressed. “It was frustrating because I thought I could have won the fight. It was the hard reality of the sport of boxing. I was a world champion two fights ago. Then you lose your world title, and you have the option to take the easy route, have a couple of fights to get yourself up the ratings towards a world title fight, or you risk it! The reality is that if you lose two fights in a row in this sport, you are in trouble. Any loss affects you in a major way. My contract with Top Rank had finished, and the reality again is that opportunities are going to dry up after two defeats. It was hard because I knew that I wanted to continue, but the hard truth is that you can want to continue boxing as much as you like, but if you haven’t got a promoter to back you and bring you opportunities, you will find it very hard, and your career could be over.
“I just got back in the gym and kept boxing because I love it. I was hopeful something would come up. I was still training with Angelo [Hyder], and we both felt that I still had so much more to give and so much to achieve. Then, recently, I was able to sign up with Tasman Fighters. I messaged Mick Francis, as I’ve been to quite a few of The Tasman shows, and I love what they do. It’s great to be a part of. It’s incredible what they have been able to do with Jai and put on these big shows. It’s great for the sport in Australia, but boxing is nowhere near what it should be, and it still doesn’t get the attention that it deserves. I think when people go to a Tasman show, they have a great night, but they also see all the talent that we have got in the country.”
Despite the losses on the road, Moloney has gained some serious fanfare in Japan. With the division forever consumed by Japanese fighters, road warrior Moloney still plans to return.
“I got a lot of support over there, which is awesome,” Moloney explained. “It almost feels like I get more support in Japan than I do in Australia, which is crazy. They obviously love their boxing, and they seem to appreciate a real fighter who wants to test themselves against the best. Obviously, I’ve lost now to three Japanese fighters, but I guess they must respect that I put all on the line and that I’m a bit of a warrior. I hope I get another big fight over there in the near future.”
The bantamweight world titles lay in the hands of Jose Salas Reyes (WBC), Seiya Tsutsumi (WBA), Takama Inoue (WBC), and Christian Medina (WBO). Ageing superstars Nonito Donaire, Kazuto Ioka, and Juan Francisco Estrada all sit waiting for a shot at one of the champions, while Moloney is currently ranked in eleventh place by the IBF and the WBC.
“We’ll fight any of the champions,” Moloney added with frustration. “I don’t really care! I do believe that at my best, I beat any of the current champions. I just need to get myself in position. I do know that I’ll need to get a couple of wins or one good win to get myself higher up the rankings, and I’ll start demanding attention. We don’t want to sit around waiting for big fights, which we’ve been forced to do in the past. I want to keep active and just make the most of it/ It’s the last chapter of my career. As soon as there is a chance to fight one of the champions, I’ll jump at it.”
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