Former WBA super flyweight title holder Andrew Moloney has a well honed perspective on the upcoming all-Japanese mega-fight between Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani, which takes place at the 55,000 seater Tokyo Dome on Saturday. Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) will make a seventh straight defense of his undisputed super bantamweight title against the three-time world champion in Japan.
Moloney locked horns with Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) nearly three years ago for the vacant WBO super flyweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The Australian would succumb to his only career knockout loss against Nakatani late in the fight. His twin brother Jason Moloney recorded his only career stoppage defeat at the hand of Inoue in 2010, where Andrew worked closely in camp with his twin ahead of the unified bantamweight title fight.
“I’ve been asked quite a lot about this one,” Moloney said in an exclusive interview with Boxing Social. “I just can’t see Inoue losing. For years now, I think the only way he possibly gets beat is when he fights someone who is just far too big. And maybe when he starts to age and slow down a little bit. But I still feel like he’s in his peak [at 33 years old]. He’s just been in these high pressure moments too many times before.”
Inoue vs Nakatani has been publicized as the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history. It’s a country that dominates the lower weight divisions.
“Nakatani has not been as high as this one, with it being the biggest fight in Japanese history,” Moloney added. “Inoue has been under that sort of pressure before, headlining at Tokyo Dome in the past. I think he’s too experienced and too explosive and I just can’t see any way that he loses this fight. I do think it will go the distance, but I expect Inoue to win fairly comfortably, I’ll say. It’s very hard to back against him. He’s hardly dropped a round in his whole career apart from when he has been knocked down. Whereas, Nakatani is obviously a great fighter, but he has lost rounds throughout his career.”
Nakatani struggled a little in his debut at super bantamweight, a unanimous decision victory against Sebastian Hernandez in December. However, his size in the lower weight divisions has been seen as an extra weapon, standing at 5ft 8in. A three inch increase of Inoue’s height of 5ft 5in.
“He’s very long with a tricky style, I know that first hand,” Moloney remembered when facing Nakatani. “Although he is taller, Inoue has been at this weight for a couple of years now. He’ll be too strong, too explosive and too powerful despite Nakatani’s height advantage. It’s funny because he knocked me out cold, he wasn’t actually the biggest puncher I’ve been in there with. He was just very accurate and fast. They didn’t feel that heavy. Physically? He wasn’t that strong. That’s why I don’t think it will be a problem for Inoue.”
Moloney (28-4, 18 KOs) will make his own trip to Japan when he challenges for Willibaldo Garcia’s IBF super flyweight title in Tokoname on June 6.
