Australian boxer Jason Moloney has achieved his first world title by winning the WBO bantamweight title. He defeated his Filipino opponent Vincent Astrolabio by majority vote, with judge scores of 115-113 and 116-112. The third judge scored a draw of 114-114. The event took place in Stockton, California and despite Moloney’s struggles, he improved to 26-2. His only losses in his last two world title fights were to Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico in 2018 and Naoya Inoue of Japan in 2020. Astrolabio, on the other hand, lost 18-4.
In addition to Moloney’s win, WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkanuri of Kazakhstan won his first crown against Canadian Steven Butler, who was in defense. Alimkanuri, an undefeated southpaw with a record of 13-0, 8 KO, turned 30 last month. He was the World Amateur Middleweight Champion in 2013 and the Asian Games Middleweight Champion in 2014. Butler, with a record of 32 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw, and 26 knockouts, was his opponent.