Jason Moloney raced out of the ring to embrace Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum after his latest win.
The former two-time title challenger felt the need to extend that offer of gratitude to the Top Rank founder and chairman for always believing in him. The investment was justified in Moloney’s latest performance, as he stopped Philippines’ Aston Palicte in the third round of their bantamweight bout. Palicte was floored twice, the latter producing an immediate stoppage at 2:35 of round three in their ESPN-televised co-feature Saturday evening (Sunday afternoon local time) from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Palicte went uppercut heavy in the opening round, constantly launching his left hand in an upward trajectory at Moloney who quickly adapted to the tactic. Moloney picked up steam in the final minute of the round, landing three right hands of note that all split the guard and caught the attention of Palicte prior to round’s close.
Both boxers looked to work the body in round two. Palicte stayed in the pocket to commit to the attack, though proving to be to his detriment as Moloney was getting the better of those exchanges.
Moloney dialed it up in round three, at which point Palicte reached the point of no return. A right hand send Palicte crashing to the canvas, though he was able to make to his feet in time to beat the count of referee Ignatius Missailidis. There was no such luck the second time around, as Moloney immediately jumped on the stunned Filipino, sending him crashing to the canvas in a corner at which point the fight was immediately halted.
Palicte snaps a three-fight win streak in falling to 28-5-1 (23KOs) with the loss.
Moloney has now won three straight since a seventh-round stoppage loss to WBA/IBF bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in October 2020. The latest win runs Moloney’s record to 24-2 (19KOs), coming just 57 days after a ten-round decision win this past April 9 on an ESPN show from Costa Mesa, California.
Likely up next for Moloney is a WBC title eliminator, where a win will put him in line for a shot at the winner of Tuesday’s bantamweight championship rematch between Inoue (25-0, 22KOs) and WBC champ Nonito Donaire (42-6, 28KOs).
Headlining the show, Sydney-based lineal/WBA/IBF/WBO lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10KOs) faces WBC lightweight titlist Devin Haney (27-0, 15KOs) of Las Vegas, for the undisputed championship.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox