The year started well for Jason Moloney.

He defended his WBO bantamweight crown in Quebec, Canada with an early Fight of the Year contender against Saul Sanchez, but he lost the title in his next defense, in Japan, at a packed Tokyo Dome.

Yoshiki Takei was just 8-0 when the former kickboxer saw out a rough final round to win a decision on the scorecards. 

“It's a fight that will always haunt me,” revealed the likeable 33-year-old on an upcoming episode of the . “I did not fight my best in that fight at all and probably another 30 seconds or another round I may have come over the top of him. I really finished strong in the 12th and I had him out on his feet, but the majority of the rounds before, I just couldn’t get in my groove and I just fought the wrong fight tactically and it was just a poor performance on my end and it’s one that will always hurt.

“You work so hard to achieve your dream of becoming a world champion and then, when you put up a performance like that, you know you could have done so much better and you lose your title, it really really hurts. 

“I’m hopeful that one day we might be able to get the rematch together, but at the moment it doesn’t seem to be happening, but I’m remaining positive. Maybe next year we’ll get to do it again.”

Moloney is now 27-3 (19 KOs) and without a date. 

But it is another chance at Takei that he covets.

He had hoped it would perhaps come on the big December 24 bill, when his fellow Aussie and occasional sparring partner Sam Goodman challenges his former opponent Naoya Inoue for all of the belts at junior featherweight. 

“I would have loved a rematch,” Moloney said. “I would have loved the rematch on Christmas Eve, obviously Inoue’s fighting Sam Goodman, a fellow Australian on Christmas Eve, and Takei’s on the undercard. I thought it would have been the perfect occasion to have the rematch and have two Japanese and two Aussies fighting in the main and the co-main, but it doesn’t seem like they want that fight unfortunately.”

Takei instead meets the unbeaten Thai contender Yuttapong Tongdee, but Moloney, who travelled to Japan to serve as a sparring partner to Seiya Tsutsumi before his thrilling recent upset win over Takuma Inoue, is keen to spend more time in Japan.

On that same trip, Moloney got to watch the improving Tenshin Nasukawa, and subsequent speculation suggests that the Australian could be drafted to test the hugely-popular Japanese prospect.

“There hasn’t been an offer but we’ve spoken about that and he’s rated fairly well across the board in the rankings, too,” said Moloney. “Yes, it is a fight that makes sense and it’s certainly a fight that I’m up for, so we’ll wait to see if that fight is presented to us next year. 

“It’s exciting – obviously he fought on the show that I was just at last month and he’s enormously popular over there, so going over there and beating a guy like him, he’s got such an incredible following, I think the crowd was much louder for him when he fought compared to the main event, which was [Junto] Nakatani, so he’s enormously popular and I think if I go over there and beat a fighter like that, that’s going to do great things for me and my profile and my career over in Japan. He doesn’t have a belt at the moment, so it would be nice to fight him when he’s a champion. 

“For me, obviously the priority is to become world champion again, so it would be nice to fight if there was something more rewarding on offer. But, as I’ve shown, I’m willing to fight absolutely everyone. I’ll fight him if the opportunity’s presented but my sights, first and foremost, are on the champions and the guys that are holding the belts.”

As well as the Takei rematch, Moloney said he was also attracted to the possibility of fighting Takuma Inoue, having lost to his brother by seventh-round stoppage during the pandemic.

“It’s still a fight that interests me – I’d still jump at that fight,” he added.

Ultimately, the former champion wants a title back around his waist. 

“After the guys with the belts that’s a preference,” he said. “But I’ll fight anyone.”