Naoya Inoue Beats Jason Moloney Via 7th-Round Knockout in Bantamweight Fight

Toru Takahashi/Associated Press

Naoya Inoue retained his WBA (Super), IBF and The Ring bantamweight titles after defeating challenger Jason Moloney by seventh-round knockout on Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The man also known as “The Monster” dominated the entire fight and received lofty praise for his work, including from ESPN’s Steve Kim and Max Kellerman and The Athletic’s Joe Lago:

Lance Pugmire of The Athletic offered some mid-fight updates and had the victor winning every round on his scorecard before the knockout at 2:59 of the seventh round:

Inoue, who made his Las Vegas debut on Saturday, now holds a 20-0 professional record with 17 knockouts. In May 2018, he won the WBA bantamweight title with a first-round TKO of Jamie McDonnell, who had five straight successful title defenses before meeting Inoue.

The 27-year-old mounted a successful title defense against Juan Carlos Payano with another first-round TKO five months later before winning the IBF and vacant The Ring bantamweight titles versus Emmanuel Rodriguez with a second-round TKO in May 2019.

Rodriguez was 19-0 before the fight, and Payano was 20-1 before his bout with the champ.

Inoue earned a WBA (Super) bantamweight title in addition to a World Boxing Super Series title via unanimous decision over four-weight world champion Nonito Donaire last November.

Mike Coppinger of The Athletic ranked Inoue as his second-best pound-for-pound boxer before the match, and ESPN’s Ariel Helwani called him “one of the best [pound-for-pound] fighters on the planet.”

Moloney is now 21-2 for his career, with his only other loss occurring against Rodriguez via split decision in Oct. 2018.

The 29-year-old is the WBA Oceania bantamweight titleholder and had won four straight fights since his lone defeat, with his last time in the ring resulting in a June 25 victory over Leonardo Baez after retirement following the seventh round.

Eighteen of Moloney’s wins have occurred by knockout.