By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

WBA #3, WBC #6,WBO #5, IBF #5 bantamweight Jason Moloney (20-1, 17 KOs) talks to Fightnews.com® about his 2018 IBF world title challenge and his confidence of defeating WBO champion Zolani Tete, WBC champion Nordine Ouabaali and IBF/WBA champion Naoya Inoue. He also praises his manager Tony Tolj and trainer Angelo Hyder and spoke about 2015 sparring sessions with Vasily Lomanchenko.

Congratulations on your impressive second round knockout victory over Dixon Flores last week. Were you expecting to KO Flores early?

No, I wasn’t expecting to knock Flores out so early. He was rated number 9 in the world and was coming off an impressive win so I was expecting a really tough fight. However, my power is something which we are continually working on and it has really improved a huge amount. I think that if I land something clean that I’m capable of knocking out anyone in my division and that’s exactly what happened.

You challenged Emmanuel Rodriguez for the IBF bantamweight title unsuccessfully in 2018 losing a disputed twelve round split decision. There were many who thought you deserved the decision. What were your thoughts?

It was a fight that really could have gone either way. On the night, the way I came home so strong in the later rounds I thought that I had done enough. Obviously I was devastated with the decision but I learned so much from that fight and that experience has definitely made me a better fighter. I know that now if I was to have the fight again it would be a different story.

You are rated WBO#5 bantamweight to champion Zolani Tete. Would you welcome a WBO title opportunity in 2020? Your thoughts on Tete?

Absolutely, it is my dream to become world champion so I want to fight anyone who currently holds a world title. I think Tete is a very good fighter but if you want to become a world champion then you have to beat very good fighters. I plan on beating lots of very good fighters throughout my career.

You are rated WBC#6 to WBC champion Nordine Ouabaali. Would you welcome a WBC title opportunity? Your thoughts on Ouabaali? Would you be confident of victory?

Yes absolutely, as I said I want to become world champion so I’m willing to face anyone in my division. I think Oubaali is a good fighter. My brother Andrew actually lost a very close decision to Oubaali in the amateurs a long, long time ago so I would love to get some revenge over him and I’m very confident that I can beat him.

IBF/WBA Champion Naoya Inoue was given his toughest fight recently by Nonito Donaire. Did Donaire at 37 years of age show Inoue is beatable? Your thoughts?

Yes, Donaire definitely showed that Inoue is beatable but that is something which I’ve believed for a long time. Everybody in the world is beatable and every fighter has some form of weakness. Inoue is a really great fighter and he is someone that I have watched for a long time. As impressive as he is, something has always told me that I can beat him. I would really love to fight Inoue.

You had the opportunity to spar boxing’s best pound for pound boxer Vasyl Lomanchenko. When and where was this sparring session? Your thoughts on Loma?

In April 2015, just before Lomachenko fought on the undercard of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, I was lucky enough to spar with Loma on two separate occasions. This was an absolutely incredible and priceless experience. I’ve sparred and fought numerous world champions but Vasily Lomachenko is in another league.

His ring IQ is just unbelievable. He is definitely the best fighter in the world in my opinion and it was an honor to share the ring with him. I learned so much from those sparring sessions.

Your twin brother Andrew captured the WBA interim super flyweight title last week in Melbourne. You were both outstanding amateurs. Tell me about your amateur careers and how you got started in boxing.

We started boxing when we were 13 years old. We wanted to play AFL and we wanted to start boxing as a way of getting fit during the preseason. We had two pairs of gloves at home and Andrew and I would always put them on and smash each other around the lounge room. We loved it, so we asked Dad to take us down to the local gym.

At the age of 16, we decided we’d like to start fighting. I lost my first 3 fights and Andrew lost his first 7! Most people probably would have given up. Instead, Andrew and I decided that we would quit playing footy and we would completely dedicate ourselves to boxing.

Quickly the results turned around and a couple of years later we both represented Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. We both won numerous Australian titles and later Andrew would go on to win the Gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow.

In 2014 we both turned professional and set our sights on becoming world champions.

You are managed by Tony a Tolj and trained by Angelo Hyder. Tell me about being managed by Tony and trained by Angelo.

When you turn professional, something which people always stress is the importance of having the right people around you. Andrew and I are extremely lucky to have both Angelo and Tony guiding our careers.

Since training with Angelo over the past two and a half years, Andrew and I have improved so much. Angelo is a fantastic coach. Every single day that I’m in the gym, I’m learning something and developing into a better fighter. We never become complacent and are always looking to reach another level. I feel like I’m getting better and better every day and I know that we have a very exciting career ahead of us.

Tony is an outstanding manager and also a great friend. This man literally works 24/7 and really wants what’s best for his fighters. Tony has always worked hard to give myself and Andrew great opportunities throughout our careers and he has guided our careers perfectly along the way.

Tony has been fantastic in ensuring that we are fighting tough opposition and makes sure that each fight has always been beneficial in developing up as fighters. This is very important as once we reach this point now, we need to be ready to fight the best fighters in our divisions and we are now confident that we can match it and beat them all.

Without this steady progression, many other fighters become unstuck when they step up to the elite level. We don’t plan on just becoming World Champions, we plan on holding onto these titles and being champions for a long time!

The career path which Tony has set for us has been exceptional. Now we just have to keep winning.

Would you like to say a few words to your fans on Fightnews.com®?

Thank you to everyone in Australia for their fantastic support of Team Moloney. We are working extremely hard to make sure that 2020 is the year that we both become world champions and bring some light to Australian Boxing.

Please continue to support us as we hope to make Australia proud.