Moloney pictures a Monster mash
THE first time Kingscliff boxer Jason Moloney met the Monster, it was under the guise of having a picture taken together.
That was two years ago in Moscow, shortly before the rising Australian bantamweight entered a World Boxing Super Series event that, naturally, included the Japanese superstar who already held the WBA title — Naoya “Monster” Inoue.
“And our encounter, it was only brief,” Moloney has recounted.
“Inoue doesn’t speak much English, so I really just shook hands and grabbed that photo with him.”
You want to know what the Tweed Coaster was really doing?
“Sizing him up,” Moloney says from Las Vegas, where on Sunday he fights Inoue for no less than three world titles.
“And that first meeting, I was shocked at how much bigger I was.
“Inoue, he didn’t look like a fighter in the same division.
“While he’s a guy who has been moving up from flyweight and super-flyweight, I’ve moved down from superbantamweight.
“So, physically, I feel I’m the stronger man.
“Now I get to show who the real monster is.”
Two years after posing for that media-day picture, Moloney and the Monster finally came face-to-face again on Friday.
This time the press conference was to hype a world-title blockbuster that has the pair throwing down for belts once held by Australian legends Jeff Fenech and Lionel Rose.
And what did the 29-yearold Moloney see in their latest staredown?
“Just another man,” he said. “And that’s the same as I’ve always seen him.
“I’m not intimidated. Some people, they get caught up in
Inoue’s aura. Get starstruck. That’s not me.”
Indeed, Moloney insists he will be the first fighter who doesn’t buy into the hype of a champion not only undefeated in eight years and 19 fights, but who has won all bar three by knockout.
A fella who in that World Boxing Super Series won his first two fights by KO — and within three rounds — before winning last November’s final against Nonito Donaire.
Moloney lost his first event in that same tournament via a controversial split-decision against IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez.
The Puerto Rican would then lose his title to Inoue seven months later, via a second-round KO.
“But everyone goes into their shell against Inoue,” Moloney said of the Japanese star fighting for the first time since his Donaire triumph.
“Or worse, they go into the contest having already lost because they think he’s unbeatable.
“Inoue calls himself the ‘Monster’, and that’s what people believe. But he’s not.
“He’s a great fighter, absolutely. Take nothing away there. But he’s just a man.
“And I’m going to prove that.”