Jason Moloney and Saul Sanchez Slug It Out on Beterbiev vs. Smith Undercard
Jason Moloney (27-2, 19 KOs) retained his WBO bantamweight title with a majority decision win over Saul Sanchez (20-3, 12 KOs) in an incredibly memorable fight.
The brutal clash took place on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev’s light heavyweight world title defence against Callum Smith. Moloney-Sanchez capped off the ESPN+ portion (For viewers in the United States) of the Québec City, Canada, event at the Vidéotron Centre. It was Moloney’s first world title defence since defeating Vincent Astrolabio in May last year.
Jason Moloney Slugs It Out With Saul Sanchez
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Jason Maloney Defeats Saul Sanchez in Entertaining Fight
The opening round saw Moloney move around the ring on the back foot, allowing Sanchez to chase him. Sanchez started well, but Moloney had success towards the end of round one with his body shots. The American continued to press forward in the second while the reigning champion kept up the work to the body.
A cut opened up on the right eye of Moloney in round three, caused by a clash of heads due to fighting at close range with Sanchez. As the rounds went on, the bout only got more brutal. At times, Moloney was the one pushing forward. There was plenty of back-and-forth action throughout the fight.
By the middle rounds, most of the fighting was taking place on the inside. Blood continued to pour from the eye of the WBO champion, but it did not impact his willingness to come forward and trade with Sanchez. In round 10, it was “The Beast” boxing on the backfoot along the ropes with Moloney pressing forward.
Till the very end, the two continued to slug it out to loud cheers from the crowd. The fight itself was very close, and the scorecards reflected that. While one of the judges saw the clash a 114-114 draw, the other two had it 116-112 for Moloney.
36 MINUTE WAR.
We've got an early 2024 FOTY contender 👑 pic.twitter.com/D3HdxXbcuv
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) January 14, 2024
Undercard Results
Imam Khataev (6-0, 6 KOs) earned a technical knockout victory over Michal Ludwiczak (17-13-1, 9 KOs) in a 10-round light heavyweight fight. Ludwiczak went down halfway through round two. Following a barrage of punches from Khataev, referee Alain Villeneuve stepped in to wave off the clash at the 2:17 mark of the second.
In an eight-round super featherweight rematch, Leila Beaudoin (11-1, 1 KO) avenged the only loss of her career against Elizabeth Espinoza (4-6-3, 1 KO) via unanimous decision. Scores were 78-74 (x2) and 77-75. Previously, Espinoza defeated Beaudoin by unanimous decision in Mexico in May last year.
Wilkens Mathieu (6-0, 3 KOs) won a unanimous decision over José Álvarez (3-2, 1 KO) in a four-round super middleweight contest. Scores were 40-35 (x2) and 40-36. Álvarez went down once in round two.
In an eight-round light heavyweight clash, Mehmet Ünal (8-0, 7 KOs) won via technical knockout in just 57 seconds. Dragan Lepei (22-7-2, 10 KOs, 1 NC) went down from a temple shot and got up, but was on shaky legs. This caused referee Martin Forest to wave off the fight.
Christopher Guerrero (10-0, 5 KOs) won by unanimous decision against Sergio Herrera (7-4, 4 KOs) in an eight-round welterweight bout. Scores were 79-73 and 78-74 (x2).
Opening the event was a four-round middleweight contest between Moreno Fendero (3-0, 2 KOs) and Victor Flores (7-3, 3 KOs). Fendero won the fight via knockout at the 2:16 mark of round one after dropping Flores twice.
Be sure to return to Big Fight Weekend for the final recap of Artur Beterbiev-Callum Smith.
