Yoshiki Takei Dethrones Jason Maloney as WBO Bantamweight Champion
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 06 May 2024
Yoshiki Takei of Japan has added another illustrious chapter to Japan's dominance of the lower weight divisions by wresting the WBO bantamweight belt from Australian Jason Moloney at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Monday night serving as the co-main event of the Naoya Inoue vs Luis Nery undisputed super bantamweight championship. With this victory, Japan now holds all the belts in the bantamweight division, with Junto Nakatani holding the WBC title, Takuma Inoue reigning as the WBA champion, Ryosuke Nishida claiming the IBF belt just last Saturday from Emmanuel Rodriguez in Osaka, and now the undefeated 27-year-old Takei joining their ranks with a 9-0 record.
Takei, a left-handed fighter, steadily built up significant leads on the scorecards by outworking Moloney throughout the bout, showcasing his relentless work rate and precision. However, in the final round, Moloney, leveraging his experience, launched a fierce onslaught against Takei, who found himself in the 12th round for the first time in his young professional career. Despite moments of concern as Moloney pressed forward, Takei managed to weather the storm, displaying admirable resilience to hear the final bell still on his feet.
The judges' scores reflected Takei's dominant performance, with Lou Moret scoring the bout 117-110, Ellis Johnson and Roussel both scoring it 116-111, all in favor of the new WBO bantamweight champion, Yoshiki Takei.
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