Topic: [Boxing] Jason Moloney vs Vincent Astrolabio WBO 118lbs Title (May 13) (Read 418 times)

Got nothing against Moloney but i think his grasp of the championship belt will be short-live, i mean his talent is not so special, just an average boxer with a supportive promoter and the championship was held in his home turf hehe.

Moloney said that he will enjoy the moment of being a champion as of now and let his promoter do his work after some months of celebration.

As usual, thank you all for your contributions/comments/ideas about this fight, time to lock the thread now as it has been four days since the fight and there's not much to talk about.

There is no news yet regarding Moloney's plans for his next fight. He is probably still enjoying his significant victory and newfound championship status. We should keep an eye on the news to get updates on his next moves.

As for a potential unification bout against Donaire (in case Donaire wins a championship fight), I don't believe it's likely to happen. If Moloney chose not to fight Donaire when he wasn't a champion, why would he suddenly opt to face a champion Donaire? The point here is that Moloney wants to avoid a KO defeat from Donaire, plain and simple.

A twin within the same league with same debut year but in two different divisions, Andrew is now taking his attempt to take a shot WBO Superfly while his brother, Jason, is in the upper weight class who is now the WBO champion. That sums it all and to say, it is indeed rare to see a twin in a contact sport playing professionally, we may have brothers but a twin is a different discussion.

I won't be surprised if that happens.

If there was someone that wants Moloney to face an easier opponent to become a champion, it would be Bob Arum. Nonetheless, Arum has his own valid reasons, old Donaire until now wasted a lot of time, energy, and money as well as it is assumed that he is already training.

At last, I already watched the whole replay yesterday on Youtube. The reception was only 720p though and I was sleepy so I did not score the fight. But from my own limited observation, it was close and could have gone either way? And the Mexican broadcasters followed someone's scorecard who actually had Astrolabio winning 116-112. I haven't seen the per-round stats yet but I heard Moloney connected more although I valued power punches more than just jabs and Astrolabio seemed to have landed the heavier shots.  

I also watched an interview with Moloney. I was surprised that his hand was actually injured in round 3 or 4 of that fight. And he kept it a secret and did not show any hints even to his own corner because he was afraid that they might stop the fight and would stop his chance of becoming a champion. He was in a hospital after the fight and stayed there until 2 AM. That was probably the reason why he stick to moving and using his skills. And I am surprised that he was so confident that he really won very clearly in that fight. His mind right after the fight was that he won 11 or 10 or 9 out of 12. And then lastly, he mentioned that he would love to unify the belt for a chance to become undisputed, Donaire included. He is hoping to bring another big unification fight to Australia again.

By the way, next weekend is the Haney-Lomachenko event. The main supporting event is Jason Moloney's twin brother, Andrew Moloney trying to become a 2-time champion against the undefeated Japanese Junto Nakatani who is moving up in weight to become a 2 division champion. There were only a few brothers that became world champions and it's rare to see twins become champions. This might steal the show if Haney keeps on hugging and making his fight with Loma a boring one.

Obviously, that was the case because it was supposed to be Moloney vs. Donaire fighting for the championship belt. However, Moloney backed out and chose a different opponent whom he believed he could defeat. His decision turned out to be correct as he emerged victorious in a hard-fought, tight match.

So the question remains, what's next for Moloney? Will he continue to play it safe and avoid Donaire as a challenger? Or if Donaire wins a championship, would Moloney be willing to unify the belts?

It's a tough loss, but it is what it is. Nowadays, boxing seems to be more about politics, with promoters aiming to maximize profits from their cash cow and protect their investments. Unfortunately, this kind of strategy is diminishing the excitement in boxing, as it should be about the best fighting the best. However, in the case of Moloney, it appears he is hesitant to face an older Donaire.

A unification fight between Donaire and Moloney is far from happening as of now because Donaire has to become a champion first but if that happens in the future, i dont think Top Rank will easily agree to a fight with the WBC champion Donaire until the latter retires, i think that is the time when they will venture for a unification fight hehe.

As for Astrolabio, it's just unfortunate for him that he didn't knock out Moloney because that's the only way for him to win the fight as the fight was held in Australia where a decision win is not easily given to the Aussie's opponent.

Even if those things were true, it will not change the fact that Naoya Inoue have the full control of that fight and he got the advantage needed to defeat the aging Donaire. Even if let's say that Donaire wore the right gloves that made him comfortable enough, he might last longer but I seriously think that it will still end via KO or TKO.

Regarding the fact that Moloney is somehow scared towards the current Donaire, there is a good chance that he will avoid that fight at first until he can make Donaire retire. For now, Donaire should focus on his fight and making things happen because until now, there are no solid news surfacing that their championship fight is happening soon enough.

Donaire's camp cited some issue during the last fight against Inoue and it has something to do with the gloves.  Donaire's camp stated that Donaire used different gloves that made him feel uncomfortable/awkward during their last fight.  It may add to the advantage of Inoue but I still think Inoue will still win that fight because of the difference in physical ability.


Hopefully Donaire can bag this fight and have a chance for unification fight.  I hope before he hang his gloves, he can at least have another chance to a title unification fight.  Moloney knows that he won't win in the current state of Donaire so he looks for a chance to avoid Donaire and prolong the time of their possible match-up hoping that age will give a toll on Donaire.

I still believe in Donaire's capability to win a title but it's still hard to asses his motivation and his preparation coming from a devastating loss, at 40,  Donaire is not the same fighter we love seeing in a ring with his quick jab and power left hook, although only his carelessness cause him his fight against Inoue.
His fight against Santiago will define if he can still continue or end his road, but if he can show his old form he can easily beat Moloney if Moloney's fight against Astrolabio is the best that he can come out.

Judging from Jason Moloney's recent performance versus Vincent Astrolabio, I can say as well that Donaire got a good chance on beating the new WBO champion for a unification fight in-case Donaire wins his campaign versus Santiago to possess the vacant WBC belt. All that is left now for Donaire is to materialize his own fight.

There are many rumors that are now surfacing in the internet but none of those made serious sense on why his bout took too long before they can make it, except for the Probellum's current situation which is Donaire's promoter.

Hopefully he can materialize his own fight as soon as possible so that he can at least fight again if he's still able before this year ends, he needed to have another fight as long as he still can because his age is already catching up to him slowly by slowly and it will take a toll on his body once father time is already riding with him. For now, it seems that it is not yet the case because he is still eager to make such fight which means he can still handle it very well mainly now that Inoue is already out of the horizon.

I also think Donaire has the advantage and if he has a chance to fight the other champion, he might have a higher chance of winning the unification bout.  It is sad that Astrolabio failed to get the WBO belt but I believe Donaire will be able to beat Moloney for a unification bout if it happens.  I only wish that the future match of Donaire will happen in the time frame when he isn't that exhausted because of old age.

I expect Donaire to win one of the remaining titles because of all the boxers here in this division after Inoue left Donaire is a serious contender to be a champion, this is Donaire's last hurrah or hope to become a champion and possibly retire, all boxers want a good exit they don't want a big loss when they are going out of the boxing world and with old age approaching fast, Donaire need one good fight and it should be a title fight.

Every judge has their preference which often times conflict with the audience.  The highlights shared on the earlier reply is somehow biased because it only highlighted the part where Astrolabio is performing good and see how it jumps rounds.  The missed round is probably where Moloney is performing better.

I believe Astrolabio is waiting to counter for the big shot reason why on the earlier round he isn't as agrressive as when it was on the late round.  And that is Astrolabio's short coming because the chance to have that opportunity never came.  Aside from that, Astrolabio's camp is boasting about Moloney is uncapable of a knock out but boxing isn't won by knocking out the opponent only.  It is obvious that Moloney outsmarted Astrolabio in this fight.

I’m expecting Maloney to win though upon watching the Match, I thought he’s gonna lose on this one but it turns out positive to him. Astrolabio did a great job as well throwing more punches but most of them are not that good, I think Maloney strategy works to stay away and do a counter punch, he got a win and this is a closest fight for Maloney.

I truly support Vincent Astrolabio in this fight but sorry to say that Jason Moloney wins the fight based on my own view. Maybe what others are trying to call out is, should not be a majority decision win for Moloney but somehow Astrolabio won even 1 of the judges. But for me, it's really clear that Moloney deserves the win. I doubt a rematch should be followed up. Just move on, and try to settle a deal again for the title match.

Now that there's another Bantamweight Champion, there are now 2 current champions in the Bantamweight Division:

Takuma Inoue - WBA
Jason Moloney - WBO

On the other hand, Nonito Donaire Jr. and Alejandro Santiago's WBC Bantamweight Title match is still hanging in the air with no updates.

I was late to watch this fight. I tuned in just in time before the ring walk of the main event. Janibek is really a force to be reckoned with. Probably the next Kazakh star but more technical than GGG. Hoping to see him unify against the other belt holders soon.

About this fight, I watched the highlights of Top Rank and I thought Astrolabio was winning or maybe it was a close fight. That made me curious so I started asking my friends. Someone explained to me that Astrolabio was clearly losing this one as Moloney was using his skills rather than trading heavy blows. So that was it. Better luck next time. Highlights are not enough to determine fights anyways.

Right? Even the people who watched the fight live didn't buy the judge's decision to make it in-favor to Moloney. Another cooking show happened in broad daylight!

At least boxing commission should take a look on this or at least the Filipino boxer deserves to have a rematch but unfortunately, I will not be surprised if Moloney will not give it a chance because he knows himself that he just got lucky because he was being favored but there will be no next time if he chooses to push his luck for a rematch.

Definitely. It doesn't look like Maloney is a winner inside the ring. He just keeps ducking and throwing fewer punches. While Astro keeps the center and pushes Maloney to the corner every time. Yet the majority decided he is the winner. Heck is wrong with these judges.

I didn't bet nor watch it live. Though this is a belt fight, Astro is not a popular fighter, which I guess only a few may have bet.  I watched it on youtube though. Seem a boring fight but sure to me Astro is the winner.