Jason Moloney is targeting another two fights in 2026 in his attempts to win another version of the bantamweight world title.
The Australian on Thursday laboured to victory over Andre Donovan at the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane, Australia, and though open about his disappointment about his inability to stop his 29-year-old opponent, he hopes that an eliminator for either the IBF or WBC titles could be next.
Moloney, 35, won for the second time in succession after successive defeats in which he previously sacrificed the WBO title. Both victories have come since he signed a promotional agreement with Tasman Fighters; Tasman had also since agreed a broadcast deal with the influential Australian broadcaster Stan, and following the start of Jai Opetaia’s association with Zuffa Boxing, Moloney has become a more valuable asset to both.
“It’s realistic – there’s another eliminator taking place for the IBF – if that’s the next fight…” Moloney told BoxingScene. “I don’t have a preference for which path it is. If we can position ourselves to get an eliminator with one of the sanctioning bodies we can do that. Realistically I can get in two more fights this year, and if one’s an eliminator, and the other’s a title shot, then that will perfect. I’ve got to let my team do the work and hopefully come up with the goods.
“We fought for an IBF title and I defended a WBC title [both are lightly regarded] because we want to position ourselves across the board and put ourselves in the best position possible. I don’t have a preference. I’d back myself against all four [of the titlists] – whatever’s going to be the quickest path to that title shot.
“I’m obviously happy I won and the dream’s still alive but it just wasn’t the performance I was hoping for. I boxed beautifully in preparation and had a great taper and went into fight night and the changing room feeling incredible and expected a really good performance.”
It was in the fourth when Moloney first threatened to stop Donovan. There followed further occasions when he looked on course to win inside the distance, but at the conclusion of 10 largely competitive rounds he was instead awarded three scores of 97-92.
“You’ve got to give credit to Donovan,” he said. “He’s hungry and pretty aggressive and fought his fight and dragged me into a bit of a scrappy fight. But with my experience I expect to fight the fight on my terms and keep a little bit neater and show my class a bit more, but I had to get in the trenches a bit and grind out an ugly win. Not my finest performance.
“He got really low, and charging in. I can generally find my range and hold my distance well; he was grinding in and trying to get on my chest. I can fight inside and like it in close but it wasn’t effective there; there was a lot of head clashes going in. It turned into a sloppy fight; it didn’t feel like it made for a nice fight to watch.
“I hurt him plenty of times to the body and I could hear and see that he was in big trouble, but I just couldn’t land that one shot to finish him off. I should have got him out there – should have been able to set up the shot to finish the night.”
Moloney’s twin brother Andrew, it has been confirmed, will challenge the champion Willibaldo Garcia Perez, of Mexico, for the IBF flyweight title at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Japan on June 6.
