Inoue Vs Moloney "signed"
Earlier today Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum revealed that plans for WBA and IBF Bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16) [井上 尚弥] to defend his titles against Jason Moloney (21-1, 18) is "signed", with a date in November now being eyed.
Arum, talking to Corbin Middlemas and Ben Camero of ABC Grandstand in Australia, stated:
2“Jason Moloney and Inoue is signed, and (with) Andrew, we exercised the option for Franco’s people,”
“We hope that both fights go in November. They’re terrific young men and very good fighters."
Of course with the year we've had there is always questions marks over any announced bout. We suspect the hope is for fans to be in the venue, and able to put money towards the purse, but that's certainly not a foregone conclusion and there questions to be asked about when and where.
Despite their still being things that seemingly need sorting, like which November date and in which venue, it does seem like we have taken a step closer to seeing Inoue in action.
Sadly a November date for this bout almost certainly rule out a late December date for Inoue, who had fought on Fuji TV's year ending card in 2014-2017, but didn't fight on it during the WBSS. Though saying that Fuji do have a strong stable to put on a bumper card at the end of the year, even without Inoue on the broadcast. We'll admit we were hoping "Inoue in late December" would become an annual thing, like "Ioka on New Year's Eve", though in 2020 we're probably better off taking what we're getting.
For Inoue this will be his first bout since beating Nonito Donaire in November 2019, in the WBSS Bantamweight final, in which he unified he IBF and WBA "super" title.
Moloney, on the other hand, will be looking to build on June's win over Leonardo Baez. Despite being beaten by Inoue victim Emmanuel Rodriguez in the WBSS we have seen Moloney bounce back with 4 wins, all inside the distance, and he will be full of confidence heading into the fight.
Arum, talking to Corbin Middlemas and Ben Camero of ABC Grandstand in Australia, stated:
2“Jason Moloney and Inoue is signed, and (with) Andrew, we exercised the option for Franco’s people,”
“We hope that both fights go in November. They’re terrific young men and very good fighters."
Of course with the year we've had there is always questions marks over any announced bout. We suspect the hope is for fans to be in the venue, and able to put money towards the purse, but that's certainly not a foregone conclusion and there questions to be asked about when and where.
Despite their still being things that seemingly need sorting, like which November date and in which venue, it does seem like we have taken a step closer to seeing Inoue in action.
Sadly a November date for this bout almost certainly rule out a late December date for Inoue, who had fought on Fuji TV's year ending card in 2014-2017, but didn't fight on it during the WBSS. Though saying that Fuji do have a strong stable to put on a bumper card at the end of the year, even without Inoue on the broadcast. We'll admit we were hoping "Inoue in late December" would become an annual thing, like "Ioka on New Year's Eve", though in 2020 we're probably better off taking what we're getting.
For Inoue this will be his first bout since beating Nonito Donaire in November 2019, in the WBSS Bantamweight final, in which he unified he IBF and WBA "super" title.
Moloney, on the other hand, will be looking to build on June's win over Leonardo Baez. Despite being beaten by Inoue victim Emmanuel Rodriguez in the WBSS we have seen Moloney bounce back with 4 wins, all inside the distance, and he will be full of confidence heading into the fight.