Champion raring to go Maloney’s wait over

Jason Moloney should have had a triumphant second half of last year after becoming the WBO bantamweight world champion in May.

After falling short in his two other world title tilts, Moloney finally achieved his childhood dream with a majority decision win over Vincent Astrolabio.

Cue wild celebrations, victory tours and a string of title defences, right?

Not quite.

Moloney broke his hand early in the Astrolabio fight and bravely fought through the pain, but he was sidelined for the rest of the year.

Now fully fit again, Moloney will make his return this weekend when he defends his title against Saul Sanchez on the undercard to the Artur Beterbiev and Callum Smith lightheavyweight world title blockbuster in Quebec.

However, Moloney said the long lay-off took a mental toll.

“It was hard,” he said. “It was awesome to finally become a world champion, then I hurt my hand in the fight and to not fight again for the rest of the year was really hard.

“I’m always in the gym and I want to be active – I’m in the prime of my career – so I really want to be fighting three or four times a year.

“To only have the one fight was pretty hard but it was necessary.”

The affable Moloney also has a chip on his shoulder. Despite being a legitimate world champion, and beating everyone he’s needed to, there are still doubters.

Not to mention Takuma Inoue, Alexandro Santiago and former opponent Emmanuel Rodriguez, who hold the other three belts in the 118-pound division.

“Once you become world champion, that means you’re the best in the world, but there’s still so much opinion about who is the best bantamweight,” Moloney said.

“After I won the belt, The Ring Magazine put me at No. 1 and that was a huge honour, but I think I lot of people felt I wasn’t the No.1.

“There’s still speculation about who is the best bantamweight in the world and I just want to prove it’s me by putting on a dominant performance against Sanchez.”

Moloney has a game opponent who will bring the fight to him.

The 26-year-old Californian is attack minded, counters well but is prone to getting a little loose when he sees an opening.

“He’s a come-forward, aggressive fighter and I love that,” Moloney said.

“I want them to be aggressive and the more aggressive he becomes, and the more he wants it, the easier he is to take out.

“That’s the beautiful part of this sport. Survivors are hard to knock out but someone who wants to win and wants to bring the fight, that’s a dangerous recipe.

“I know he’s extremely hungry and he comes forward and throws big punches.

“He wants you to sit in front of him but I believe that’s perfect for me.

“I’ll break him down and knock him out in impressive fashion.” Moloney said he probably could have returned last month but the extra month off had made his hand even stronger.

The 32-year-old doesn’t believe ring rust will be an issue after spending the holiday period away from his young family at a training camp in Las Vegas.

“It’s something you think about but I’ve never had ring rust before,” he said.

“I’ve had a long camp, done a lot of sparring and my form’s been getting better and better, particularly over the last two weeks.

“I’ve felt good in the gym.”