Top Rank CEO Bob Arum will try to secure a world title shot for bantamweight contender Jason Moloney.
This past Sunday night at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Moloney took down Aston Palicte in three rounds to capture the vacant WBO International bantamweight championship.
The fight was featured as part of the undercard to the lightweight unification between Devin Haney and George Kambosos.
In the third round, Moloney drilled Palicte with a big right hand. Palicte went down, but soon found himself on the mat for a second time when Moloney attacked him with a barrage of hard shots. The referee waved off the bout.
“As his promoter, we will be working along those lines [to get him a world title shot]. But sometimes it’s impossible to make that arrangement,” Arum said.
Arum expected Moloney to have a tougher fight, but he wasn’t shocked by the outcome.
“Jason was in with a tough Filipino, these Filipino’s are really good fighters,” Arum said.
“They get the edge on you, they’re really great front runners and Jason didn’t’ let that happen. He took out the opponent. I wasn’t surprised, but he is a real, world-class fighter. He was in with some of the best fighters in the world, he and his brother, and they acquitted themselves extremely well.”
Regarding a world title shot. The most likely option would be WBO champion Paul Butler.
Later tonight, Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire will collide in a rematch for the WBC, WBA, IBF bantamweight straps.
Moloney got a crack at Inoue two years ago in Las Vegas. The Japanese puncher broke Moloney down and knocked him out in the seventh round.