QUEBEC CITY — In his first title defense, Jason Moloney was dragged into deep waters against Saul Sanchez. Moloney responded by showing Sanchez how well he could swim.

Moloney (27-2, 19 knockouts) retained the WBO bantamweight title for the first time with a majority decision win over a determined Sanchez (20-3, 12 KOs) on Saturday at Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada. The scores were 116-112 for Moloney on two cards and 114-114 even on the third, but numbers alone don’t tell the story of a bout that may end up contending for Fight of the Year honors in 12 months.

Moloney, 33, of New South Wales, Australia was forced to work all 2,160 of the seconds he was in the ring against Sanchez, 26, of Pacoima, Calif. to retain the title he won last May with a majority decision win over Vincent Astrolabio.

“Saul Sanchez is a warrior. I am proud to be the WBO bantamweight champion, and I was going to do whatever it took to keep my title,” said Moloney afterwards.

“The era of ‘Mayhem’ is only beginning. And the fans here in Quebec City were incredible. I felt like I did enough in the later rounds to retain my title.”

36 MINUTE WAR.

We've got an early 2024 FOTY contender 👑 pic.twitter.com/D3HdxXbcuv

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) January 14, 2024

Sanchez, who is trained by Manny Robles, got off to a fast start, taking the fight to the incumbent champion with hard body punches that made Moloney uncomfortable. The urgency was cranked up a few notches in the third round, when a cut deemed caused by a headbutt opened up above Moloney’s right eye, which made for an attractive target for Sanchez’s hooks.

Moloney responded to adversity in championship form, switching tactics from counterpunching to backing up Sanchez, pushing Sanchez to the ropes in the fourth and fifth and smothering his power. Sanchez never allowed Moloney a moment to breathe, continuing to force him to work and landing left hooks and uppercuts whenever Moloney stopped moving.

Moloney found a home for left hooks in exchange, landing a number of bombs that would have folded most other fighters at 118. Moloney finally began taking control of the fight in the eighth, when uppercuts to the body sapped Sanchez’s stamina, forcing him to the ropes, where Moloney opened up with combinations that snapped Sanchez’s head back.

Sanchez showed he wasn’t ready to pack it in with a strong bounce back round in the ninth, but Moloney made a strong statement at the end of the tenth, blasting Sanchez with a flashy combination against the ropes to solidify that it was his stanza. The two traded the initiative over the next two rounds, though two of the judges gave Moloney both rounds, securing the victory for the champion.

CompuBox punch stats showed Sanchez (362 of 897 punches) outlanding and outthrowing Moloney (297 of 824 punches) over the course of twelve rounds.

Moloney, who is rated No. 1 at 118 pounds by The Ring, could have his next defense could come in his home country, according to a Top Rank source. ESPN reported that Vasiliy Lomachenko and George Kambosos are finalizing a deal for the vacant IBF lightweight title in April or May, and Moloney may be slated for action on that card, should it come to fruition.

“I’d love to defend my world title ‘Down Under’ in front of my Australian fans,” Moloney said.

The loss snaps a two-fight winning streak for Sanchez, whose two previous defeats came by split decision.

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].

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