VINCENT Astrolabio fell just short of becoming a world champion as he lost a majority decision against Australia's Jason Moloney for the vacant WBO bantamweight crown on Saturday in California (Sunday, Manila time).
Aware of Astrolabio’s punching power, Moloney fought a tactical bout and outboxed the Filipino on the way to winning a first world championship in his third attempt.
The scorecard read 116-112 (Zachary Young), 115-113 (Robert Hoyle), 114-114 (Tom Carusone) which was met with resounding jeers by the crowd at the Stockton Arena in California.
Moloney, 32, improved to a 26-2 record with 19 KOs.
The Aussie disclosed he broke his hand early in the fight, but shrugged off the pain as he knew its now or never for him in his bid to become a world champion.
“I broke my hand in the third or fourth round. It hurt every time I threw it,” said Moloney. “But I knew this was my last chance to make my dream come true.
“I thought I won it going away, but all that matters is the victory,” he added about the majority decision. “And now I have this belt for the rest of my life.”
His two losses, incidentally, both came in title fights against Emmanuel Rodriguez via split decision for the IBF bantamweight belt (2018) and a seventh round stoppage at the hands of Naoya Inoue for the WBA/IBF bantamweight titles (2020).
Astrolabio fell to an 18-4 record (13 KOs) as he failed to unload his power punches against Moloney, who was disciplined enough not to engage the Filipino in toe-to-toe exchanges.
The 26-year-old native of General Santos City is eyeing to become the latest Filipino world champion after Marlon Tapales, Melvin Jerusalem, and Dave Apolinario.
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