Australia’s Jason Moloney (R) fights Aston Palicte of the Philippines (L) during their World Boxing Council (WBC) silver bantamweight and vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) International bantamweight championship title fight in Melbourne on June 5, 2022. Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images
A month-long training camp in Japan has ignited the spark in former WBO bantamweight titleholder Jason Moloney, who hopes to return to the ring before the end of the year.
The 33-year-old Australian has offered his services as a sparring partner to recently crowned WBA 118-pound titleholder Seiya Tsutsumi after the Japanese boxer previously helped him prepare for his unsuccessful title defense against Yoshiki Takei at the Tokyo Dome in May. It only seemed fair to return the favor.
Smart switcheroo Tsutsumi (28) put up an excellent fight to dethrone Takuma Inoue by unanimous decision at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday night with scores of 117-110, 115-112 and 114-113. It was an action-packed fight that Moloney eagerly tackled from the front.
Tsutsumi’s conditioning was no surprise to Moloney, who said some of the workouts he completed with The Ring’s No.3 bantamweight contender were among the toughest of his 10-year professional career.
“The training and the sparring was amazing,” said Moloney (27-3, 19 KOs), The Ring’s No.7 bantamweight contender. “They were so grateful that I came over and helped him. I gave him good work, which of course paid off for him. He fought incredibly; his performance was amazing. He stuck to the game plan and showed how much he wanted it. He just pushed hard the whole fight and never gave up. He was ruthless and he got what he deserved.
“Watching him prepare for that fight was quite inspiring. He lives and breathes the sport and he trains so hard. It was pretty awesome to sit back and watch your partner achieve his dream of becoming a world champion. To play a small part in that was pretty special.”
But the trip to Japan was about much more than being part of a tough training camp for Moloney. It was as much about building his brand in the lucrative Japanese market as waiting for his next fight to be scheduled. He attended both the Sunday and Monday night shows at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena, spending hours signing autographs, taking selfies and chatting with fans.
Speaking to The Ring just hours before he was due to fly back home to Australia on Tuesday, Moloney said it had been a special experience.
“The whole two days were just amazing,” said Moloney, who traveled internationally alone for the first time and even missed his daughter’s third birthday at home. “They box just as well here. They have proper, hardcore fans who love the events, love the fighters and really support everyone. It was amazing to be here and just witness it firsthand.
“Obviously I fought here at the Tokyo Dome in May, but it was a really good experience this time to take it back a little bit and just look at it and appreciate it a little bit more. I think when you fight yourself, you block out a lot of it. You are so zoned in, you have the blinders on and you don’t really appreciate it to a certain extent. I loved the opportunity to box there, but you’re so focused on fighting and performing that it’s very hard to sit back and smell the roses while you’re in the moment.”
As much fun as he had, it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops for Moloney, who went one step too far in immersing himself in the local culture.
“The food here is amazing,” he said. “I love it and maybe that’s what undid me. I was here with a mate who is clearly a local and he told me all these different foods to try and give me an experience. We started talking about chicken sashimi and he said that they eat it here because it’s so fresh that it doesn’t have the bacteria, so you can eat it raw.
“I felt game, I felt brave, so I ate it. The next day I was fine and I thought I had dealt with it, I got away with it. But the next morning I woke up and I had a bit of a fever and…let’s just say, the effects lasted for over a week.
“When you spar with Seiya Tsutsumi, who is relentless, and you have food poisoning and you have to do eight rounds, it’s not easy. But I pushed through.
“I couldn’t pull out of the sparring because I know what it’s like. He invested in bringing me here, so I couldn’t really call him and say ‘I can’t spar because I have food poisoning.’ I knew I was in for eight rounds and it was going to be tough, but I thought, you know what, it could happen on fight day. You may wake up feeling absolutely rubbish, but you won’t pull out of the fight. I treated it that way and actually saved the night well, but I was in pain. I certainly didn’t want him to punch me in the body, I can tell you that!”
Jason Moloney (right) and Saul Sanchez fought tooth and nail for 12 thrilling rounds in January 2024, with Moloney successfully defending his WBO bantamweight title by majority decision. (Photo by Mikey Williams / Top Rank)
Despite his obvious friendship with Tsutsumi, Moloney says he would not turn down the opportunity to challenge him for his world title, adding that the fight would not be his first choice.
“It’s not something I talked to him about,” he said. “We are mates and we both helped each other a lot. But we are fighters and unfortunately we are in this sport where you have to be selfish. We’re obviously at the same weight, we have the same dreams, so I think we’d both be ready for a fight if that were to happen.
“It’s probably not my first option as we’ve become mates through boxing, but we’re both fighters and we both have our dreams and aspirations, so I think we’d be able to put the friendship aside for 12 rounds if we had to. “
The night after Tsutsumi’s title win, WBC bantamweight belt holder Junto Nakatani put on another classy performance to dispatch Thai veteran Tasana Salapat, AKA Petch CP Freshmart, in six rounds. The slick Japanese southpaw scored a final round knockout victory over Moloney’s twin brother Andrew in their WBO 115lb title fight in May last year.
“It’s an interesting one, the Thai started so slowly and really didn’t look like he had a proper crack,” Moloney said. “Then halfway through either round four or five, he decided to push forward and let his hands go. He looked dangerous at times. Things seemed to be heating up and it was going to be a good fight, but I think the class of Nakatani came out on top.
“Nakatani has shown how devastating he can be. It was a good performance from him. It will be interesting to see what he decides to do next. I know everyone keeps talking about the showdown with Naoya Inoue, and it will undoubtedly be an absolutely massive fight here. Whether he moves up or maybe wants to unite, I’m not so sure what he will do. It will be interesting to see what he does next.
“Obviously I’d love to have a chance to fight him if that opportunity arises. I would love to have that, even though I rate him as a very, very good fighter. I’m always willing to test myself against the best and he’s definitely a fighter I’d be up for.”
Australia’s Jason Moloney (left) got his licks in but lost his WBO bantamweight title to Yoshiki Takei by unanimous decision. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images)
A surprise future opponent for Moloney could be former K1 star Tenshin Nasukawa, who moved to 5-0 with a 10-round unanimous decision win over Gerwin Asilo by scores of 97-92 and 98-91 twice in the main support game on Monday night. A relative novice in boxing but a seasoned professional in combat sports, the 26-year-old southpaw is a big name in his home country and is ranked number three in the bantamweight division by both the WBC and the WBA.
“Tenshin is incredibly popular here. He’s more popular than Nakatani and gets more attention,” Moloney said.
“His fight looked like a bit of a sparring session. I thought the other guy won quite a few laps. We had it pretty close here. We thought it was a close battle, but the scorecards didn’t reflect that.
“There are whispers that they will try to introduce him as a possible opponent for me. Of course I’d prefer a title fight, but he’s a big name here, so that’s another name we’ll consider. We will wait and see.”
Whatever the future holds, Moloney hopes to be back in Japan soon, this time as a participant, not a spectator.
“Japan is where I need to be,” he said. “This is where the four champions are, so they really hold the power in this division and I love it here. I want to be a part of it, I want to be in big fights and become champion again. I knew that coming here and just being there, showing my face, connecting with the fans would hopefully generate some interest in a fight for me back here, before the end of the year, if possible.”
Just don’t expect him to go back to eating raw chicken anytime soon.
“I think I learned my lesson,” Moloney laughed.
