Unbeaten bantamweight Jason Moloney (17-0) has the chance to join Australian boxing legends Lionel Rose and Jeff Fenech by becoming a world bantamweight champion this week in Orlando.
He’ll take on Puerto Rican champion Emmanuel Rodriguez (18-0) for his IBF belt. It’s a clash of two unbeaten fighters, so somebody’s ‘0’ has got to go!
While the 27-year-old Moloney is the challenger and the underdog heading into the fight, Australia has a proud history on the world bantamweight stage.
Lionel Rose famously won the WBC and WBA bantamweight belts by beating Japan’s Masahiko ‘Fighting’ Harada in Tokyo in 1968 via a close but unanimous points decision. Rose went on to successfully defend his title three times.
Jeff Fenech later won the IBF bantamweight world title by beating Japan’s Satoshi Shingaki in Sydney in 1985 via a ninth-round technical knockout. The ‘Marrickville Mauler’ went on to successfully defend that belt twice before moving up in weight and winning world titles in both the super bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
Jason Moloney began his career as an amateur and represented Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He turned pro in 2014 and has since had 14 knockout wins in 17 fights. His biggest win came earlier this year when he won the Commonwealth bantamweight title with a third-round stoppage of Namibia’s Immanuel Naidjala (23-4-1).
Moloney is a proud Victorian but relocated to northern New South Wales to train with Angelo Hyder, Danny Green’s former mentor.
Emmanuel Rodriguez, the 26-year-old IBF champion he’s facing this weekend, won his belt in May this year after scoring a unanimous points decision over England’s Paul Butler (26-2). Rodriguez has 12 knockouts from his 18 fights.
Jason will have his unbeaten twin brother Andrew (18-0) cheering him on against Rodriguez this weekend. Andrew fights as a super flyweight, which is one division below bantamweight. Andrew is also a Commonwealth titleholder and he won a gold medal as an amateur at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The brothers spar each other regularly during training.
A win this weekend would see Jason become Australia’s only current world champion with the major sanctioning bodies after Jeff Horn (18-1-1) lost his WBO welterweight title against Terence Crawford (34-0) in June.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
Great fight, Moloney did Australia proud in a gutsy display, losing a very close split decision 115-113, 113-115, 113-115.
Brendan Jones
Roar Rookie
Sweet I’m going the pub to go and watch it
Brendan Jones
Roar Rookie
Obviously you no very little about boxing. Mundine has had all but one of his fights on ppv. Given exposure to the sport that hasn’t been seen for decades. Boxing will go back to a flash in the pan sport unless someone brings constant attention the likes that Mundine did
Anna Falaktik
Guest
The only void left by Mundine would be , no one for the majority of the Australian public to despise.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
Update: It looks like Fox will be showing it now from 10am on Sunday for free on Main Event (Channel 521). So pubs should have it on as well.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
Just goes to show how hard it is for Aussies to succeed at the top level Brendan, there are some great fighters out there on the world stage. I agree re Tommy Browne's titles, but it's still good to see him rebound after his loss to Mundine earlier this year. Hopefully Moloney can do the job this weekend, and lightweight George Kambosos (15-0) is a young fighter to keep an eye on for a potential future world title I think (but he is in Lomachenko and Mikey Garcia's division, so he may have to wait a while).
Brendan Jones
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately Aussie boxing has not had a great couple of years, especially this year, not one Aussie has been successful in a world title fight this year. Jeff Horn lost his WBO title, Billy Dib lost his bid for the IBF Super-featherweight title, Luke Jackson lost to Carl Frampton for the WBO featherweight title. Tommy Browne did win the WBF, UBO and UBF world titles in August, no disrespect to Browne but you could pick those titles out of a corn flakes packet, so I don’t even know if they count. But hopefully Maloney can buck the trend of 2018 and bring home a world title
John Coomer
Roar Guru
It doesn't look like Fox is showing it unfortunately, online streaming looks like it will be the only option. I'll keep an eye out for any sites later in the week and let you know.
buttery
Roar Rookie
Where can we watch it.
Brendan Jones
Roar Rookie
This will truly be at great opportunity for Maloney. He has been on the radar for a while now and this will project him on to the international stage and hopefully make him a household name. With the looming long awaited retirement of Mundine due, someone needs to fill the void.