“Monster” Inoue to meet Jason Moloney in October?

It looks like one of the most exciting smaller weight fighters in the world will make his U.S. return at the end of October. That’s when Naoya “The Monster” Inoue is set defend his Unified World Bantamweight titles.

Boxing Insider Dan Rafael wrote for Boxingscene.com that Top Rank Boxing is close to finalizing a deal for Inoue to fight Australian contender, Jason Moloney, October 31st in Las Vegas:

Naoya Inoue vs. Jason Moloney in Play For October 31 https://t.co/m4M5XquYXA pic.twitter.com/L289df3S0D

— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) September 1, 2020

Rafael quoted Top rank head, Bob Arum, on the proposed fight,

“We are working on that,” Arum said. “It would be ‘The Monster’ fighting Moloney on Halloween.” 

This would be the much-anticipated return to America of the fighter won the World Boxing Super Series Bantamweight tournament last November in Japan by defeating Nonito Donaire by 12-round decision to unify the WBA and IBF World Championships.

Inoue, 19-0, 16 KOs, is immensely popular in his home country, and part of the negotiation has been the date and the live Japanese broadcast deal for his latest title fight to be shown there. Arum told Boxingscene,

“A lot of the revenue for his fights has to be paid by the Japanese television broadcaster, so we have to make sure Nov. 1 is a good date for Japanese television.” 

While the proposed fight with Moloney would be late night Saturday night in U.S., it would be mid-day in Sunday in Japan and also in Australia.

Top Rank had been trying to make a fight with the 27 year old “Monster” and WBO 118 lb. champ, Jon Riel Casimero for earlier this year. However, the Covid 19 pandemic scuttled their proposed April bout.

Now, Casimero has decided not to wait on an Inoue fight, but instead will be part of the Premier Boxing Champions split-doubleheader Pay Per view on from Showtime Network in September at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.

Casimero will fight contender Duke Micah, on the undercard that will have both Jermall and Jermell Charlo defending their World titles in separate bouts.

The Australian Moloney will obviously draw in a great number of fans “down under” to watch the proposed matchup with Inoue. Jason Moloney, 21-1, 18 KOs, was victorious in June with a 7th round TKO over Leonardo Baez in Top Rank’s Las Vegas “bubble.” And, he has remained in the United States waiting for a big opportunity.

Moloney’s promoter, Tony Tolj told Rafael Monday that they are optimistic but,

“We want that fight. We have enormous respect for a future Hall of Fame fighter in Naoya Inoue. We won’t run from ‘The Monster’ Inoue…. but it’s not yet finalized.”

So, now we wait for that to happen.