Australia’s Jason Moloney described himself as “disappointed” with his performance after he earned a unanimous decision victory over Andre Donovan.
The former WBO bantamweight champion was awarded three scores of 97-92 after 10 rounds at the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane, Australia, but struggled to secure the stoppage he first threatened and sought in the fourth round.
Victory represented his second in succession, upon his signing a promotional agreement with Tasman Fighter and after successive defeats, first by Yoshiki Takei and then Tenshin Nasukawa.
He is hoping to challenge for the IBF title held by Jose Salas Reyes later in 2026.
“I hold myself to a higher standard – I’m disappointed but thanks to Andre for a hard fight, you can come again,” Moloney, at 35 six years Donovan’s senior, said post-fight.
“I’m sorry to my team. Didn’t give the performance I wanted but the best is yet to come. It’s another step forward; gives me the opportunity to learn and get better; it’s how I pride myself on improving and I’ll do it again.
“I’ve gotta be better than that [to become a two-time world champion]. Promise I’ll work hard and be better next time.”
There was earlier a stoppage victory for the Irish light heavyweight Conor Wallace, in the eighth round of his contest with the Argentinian Walter Gabriel Sequeira. Wallace hopes to next challenge for the IBF 175lbs title.
Max McIntyre, the promising Australian super middleweight, also earned an eighth-round stoppage victory, over India’s Tej Pratap Singh.
Ben Mahoney outpointed his fellow Australian junior middleweight Dan Hill via two scores of 97-93 and another of 96-94.
