The final bantamweight title vacancy in the post-Naoya Inoue era will have at least one interested observer from the other side of the world.
Jason Moloney will be among those to track Saturday’s clash between former IBF titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez and first-time title challenger Melvin Lopez. Their vacant IBF bantamweight title fight takes place Saturday evening on Showtime from MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Rodriguez and Moloney have enough history to where the stakes are appealing enough to Australia’s reigning WBO titlist.
“Another fight that I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on,” Moloney told BoxingScene.com. “I look forward to watching the fight and hope that Rodriguez and I will have a rematch very soon in a title unification.”
The two previously met as unbeaten bantamweights in October 2018. Puerto Rico’s Rodriguez (21-2, 13KOs; 1NC) won a narrow decision to defend his IBF title in their World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) quarterfinal clash in Orlando, Florida.
Australia’s Moloney (26-2, 19KOs) has since won seven of his last eight bouts. The lone defeat during that stretch came in an October 2020 knockout versus Inoue (25-0, 22KOs), whose first full bantamweight title win came in a second-round knockout of Rodriguez in their May 2019 WBSS semifinal bout.
Inoue went on to fully unify the division before he abdicated the throne in January to compete at junior featherweight. All four belts were vacated in the process. Moloney claimed the WBO title in a twelve-round win over Vincent Astrolabio on May 13 in Stockton, California.
Takuma Inoue, Naoya’s younger brother, won the vacant WBA belt earlier this year. Alexandro Santiago soundly outpointed former four-division champ Nonito Donaire to claim the WBC title just two weeks ago.
Rodriguez has waited the longest for his chance to become a two-division titlist. The 31-year-old Boricua is a -800 favorite to prevail according to bet365 sportsbook, who lists Lopez (29-1, 19KOs)—a Nicaraguan based out of Miami—as a +500 underdog to shock the world Saturday evening.
Moloney is among the crowd who sees the bout going chalk, which he hopes will lead to a chance to avenge his first pro defeat and also unify two titles in early 2024.
“Admittedly I haven’t seen a lot of footage of Lopez except for his knockout defeat but I have seen enough to think that Rodriguez should win this fight,” noted Moloney, who has won his last four starts. “I think Rodriguez’s experience and the level of opposition faced will be too much for Lopez to overcome.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox