Naoya Inoue and Mikaela Mayer Win in Las Vegas

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue proved his mastery with a knockout win over Australia’s determined Jason Moloney to retain the WBA and IBF bantamweight world titles on Saturday.

Despite worries over Inoue’s inactivity the multi-division world champion showed little rust in dominating Moloney in front of a limited number of fans at the MGM Grand Bubble in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Monster was in cruise control.

It was nearly a year ago that Inoue fought a brutal back-and-forth battle with elite fighter Nonito Donaire that resulted in a unanimous decision victory that was closer than the scores. The Japanese fighter had never received that kind of punishment before and fans wondered if there would be repercussions.

No need to worry.

Inoue quickly established his boxing mastery and overall physical superiority over Moloney who was stubbornly resistant to succumbing to the assaults. But it all came crashing down beginning in the sixth round when Inoue belted him with a right. Down went Moloney who beat the count.

“Moloney has a great defense, and it was very difficult to get through. The two punches mentioned are something we really practiced in Japan a lot, and I was able to perform well and use it, and I’m very happy with that,” said Inoue.

Moloney was not so lucky in the seventh round when Inoue beat him to the punch with a short right cross and ended the night at 2:59 of the frame. It was his fourth defense of the bantamweight title.

“The final punch, the finishing punch, I’m very happy and satisfied with that punch,” said Inoue.

Mayer wins Title

American Olympian Mayer (14-0, 5 KOs) finally got her crack at a world titlist and made the most of it with a convincing unanimous decision victory over Poland’s Ewa Brodnicka (19-1) to win the WBO super featherweight title. It wasn’t close.

Brodnicka failed to make weight so could not win the title but used her regular approach of holding and hitting to stymie Mayer. It did not work.

“Her holding and her movement was a little tricky for me to catch on to. I still feel like I did win every round,” said Mayer, 30.

Mayer used her speedy combinations and footwork to out-point Brodnicka who was deducted a point in the sixth and seventh rounds for excessive holding after being warned. That allowed Mayer to unleash her typical combinations assaults on the Polish fighter who had held the WBO world title for five defenses since winning it in April 2018.

Now Mayer, who fought on Team USA at the Rio Olympics in 2016, finally has the coveted world title she sought. The scores were 100-88 twice and 99-89 for Mayer. She said she is not satisfied having a world title.

“I definitely want to unify this division. I don’t want to wait around. I don’t want to take a couple of years to do it. I want to do it right away,” Mayer said. “So, {WBC champion} Terri Harper told me to get a belt. Eddie Hearn told me to get a belt. I have the WBO belt now, so let’s make that fight happen. I want Terri Harper next.”

Other Bouts

A 10-round super featherweight clash saw Brazil’s Robson Conceicao (15-0, 7 KOs) outpoint Southern California’s Luis Coria (12-4) in a back-and-forth war. Scores were 95-92 twice and 94-93 for Conceicao.

New Jersey’s Julian Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs) remained undefeated with a third-round stoppage of Mexico’s Jose Eduardo Lopez at 2:10 of the round.

A super lightweight fight saw Andy Hiraoka (16-0, 11 KOs) stop Rickey Edwards (12-5) at 2:20 of the fourth round. Hiraoka fights out of Yokahama, Japan.

Jared Anderson (7-0, 7 KOs) needed only 2:46 of the first round to knock out Luis Pena (6-2) in a heavyweight fight. Anderson fights out of Toledo, Ohio.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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