WBO bantamweight champion Jason “Mayhem” Moloney (27-2, 19 KOs) had to go through sheer agony to the young gun Saul Sanchez (20-3, 12 KOs) by an unpopular twelve majority decision in the most exciting fight of the night thus far at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada
Sanchez & Moloney stood head to head, exchanging bombs from start to finish, with the Southern California native appearing to get the better of the action. The scores were 114-114, 116-112, and 116-112.
The last two scores didn’t reflect the faction fight that took place, as Sanchez fought better and was landing the more hurtful punches. Moloney was cut over his right eye from a clash of heads in round four. It was a one-inch cut, but his corner did a good of keeping it from bleeding too badly.
Moloney said, “Saul Sanchez is a warrior. I am proud to be the WBO bantamweight champion, and I was going to do whatever it took to keep my title.
“The era of Mayhem is only beginning. And the fans here in Quebec City were incredible. I felt like I did enough in the later rounds to retain my title.
“I’d love to defend my world title ‘Down Under’ in front of my Australian fans.”
In the end, the judges were more impressed with Moloney’s scoring shots, and not putting as much weight on Sanchez’s more powerful and more numerous connects.
The younger, stronger, and busier Sanchez was all over the 33-year-old Moloney, hurting him repeatedly with uppercuts from rounds six through twelve.
Moloney’s Grit and Determination
The Australian Moloney worked hard, not slowing down, despite being hurt numerous times in rounds six, seven, nine, ten, and eleven. Sanchez had Moloney holding on frequently with his uppercuts, but Mayhem was able to quickly recover each time and continue fighting hard.
Moloney likely won’t hold onto his WBO title for much longer because he doesn’t have enough pop in his punches, he gets hit too easily, and he had a bad habit of leaning forward in front of his opponents.
Sanchez fought well enough to win by three to four rounds tonight, and if that’s not a good sign for Moloney. If he can’t beat a fighter at this level without controversial scoring, what’s going to happen when he gets in there with a good bantamweight?
