Andrew Moloney (25-3, 16KOs) has reflected on his knockout defeat to Junto Nakatani (25-0, 19KOs) as part of the supporting cast to Devin Haney’s narrow victory over Vasyl Lomachenko on May 20th, held in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.
Moloney would be on the receiving end of a knockout of the year contender in the twelfth round against Nakatani, who landed an over overhand left-hand as Moloney was squared up to engage with the former WBO flyweight world champion. Nakatani earlier in the contest, had scored knockdowns in rounds two and eleven, respectively, against the brave Australian contender.
WORLD CHAMPION 🏆
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 21, 2023
Nakatani does it in devastating fashion 🇯🇵 #HaneyLoma pic.twitter.com/PtGRLRp4g3
Speaking on Instagram, Moloney feels he could not have prepared himself any better to face Nakatani and that he knew the task ahead of him when he agreed to meet the hard-hitting Japanese fighter.
“Going into this fight, I had the best preparation I’ve ever had and went into the fight so confident that I would walk out as World Champion. I really didn’t let any negative thoughts enter my mind so I definitely wasn’t prepared for this feeling (of defeat).
“The only thing that makes this any easier is the fact that I know I could not have prepared any better than I did, and I gave it absolutely everything I had on fight night.
“From the start, we knew Nakatani was going to be a tough task. When the Champion gives up their Word Title(Kazuto Ioka) rather than fighting him, you know he must be pretty good! And he certainly was.”
Moloney continues to add that he does not regret taking the fight against Nakatani despite the defeat and that he will continue taking on all challengers moving forward in his career.
“But as I’ve always said, I will fight anyone in the division, so when this fight was offered to us, we jumped at it, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Moloney also paid tribute to his trainer, Angelo Hyder, who received much criticism for not pulling out Moloney prior to the twelfth round after sustaining a heavy knockdown in the previous round. Moloney backed Hyder in not pulling him out of the contest and that, as expected, he would have rather gone out of the ring on his shield than be withdrawn from the fight against his wishes.
“Firstly, my coach Angelo Hyder, this was the best preparation I’ve ever had. I wanted to get this win just as much for him as myself because he deserved to go home with 2 World Champions for the time and effort he has put into myself and Jason over the last 6 years.
“I’ve seen some comments from people saying Angelo should have stopped the fight after the 11th, so I just want to thank Angelo for not doing that.
“I would struggle to live with the regret and constant thought of what could have been. Forever wondering, could I have landed a knockout shot myself in round 12?
“I would rather go out on my back trying to win like I did than live the rest of my life wondering what could have happened. So I’m extremely grateful I was giving the opportunity to do that.”
