Videotron Center in Quebec City, Canada – Jason “Mayhem” Moloney (27-2, 19 KOs) made the first defense of his title and retained his WBO bantamweight world title with a twelve-round majority decision over Saul Sánchez (20-3, 12 KOs) in a back-and-forth duel in which the Australian’s versatility made the difference.
One judge called the fight a draw with a score of 114-114, which was overturned by two scores of 116-112.
Sanchez was aggressive from the start, but in the third round, Moloney began to hold his ground and land on the inside. A headbutt caused a cut over Moloney’s right eye, but he was unfazed in rounds four and five, where he worked the body and pinned Sanchez against the ropes.
Sanchez returned fire in the sixth and seventh with one-two punches and right hooks, but not without quick responses from Moloney. The two then went back and forth for the rest of the fight, with both landing enough to close out each round.
Moloney swept the final two rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards to pull away.
There was a huge hail of boos when Moloney was announced as the winner, but the Australian boxer believes he did enough in the second half to win the contest.
Moloney said: “Saul Sanchez is a warrior. I am proud to be the WBO bantamweight champion and I was going to do whatever it took to keep my title.
“The Mayhem era is just beginning. And the fans here in Quebec City were incredible. I felt like I did enough in the last few rounds to retain my title.
“I would love to defend my world title ‘Down Under’ in front of my Australian fans.”
