A new junior bantamweight champion will be crowned this Saturday as part of the two-fight ESPN-televised prelims to the Haney-Loma PPV at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Australia’s former world champion Andrew Moloney (25-2, 16 KOs) and Japan’s undefeated former WBO flyweight champion Junto Nakatani (24-0, 18 KOs) will collide for the vacant WBO junior bantamweight world championship,
Opening the telecast will be undefeated middleweight prospect Nico Ali Walsh (8-0, 5 KOs), grandson of Muhammad Ali, in a scheduled eight-rounder against against Ohio-born veteran Danny Rosenberger (13-9-4, 4 KOs).
Moloney-Nakatani and Ali Walsh-Rosenberger will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
The night will begin with an ESPN+-streamed undercard (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT) featuring the return of undefeated lightweights Emiliano Fernando Vargas (4-0, 3 KOs) and Abdullah Mason (7-0, 6 KOs). Vargas, son of former world champion Fernando “El Feroz” Vargas, returns in four-rounder against Rafael Jasso (3-0, 1 KO), while Mason, a Cleveland-born southpaw, will see action in a six-round clash versus Desmond Lyons (8-2, 2 KOs).
The undercard also features unbeaten junior featherweight Floyd “Cashflow” Diaz (8-0, 3 KOs) in an eight-rounder and middleweight slugger Amari Jones (8-0, 7 KOs) in a six-round tilt.
Haney vs. Lomachenko will stream live on Top Rank on ESPN+ PPV, the event’s exclusive digital distributor in the United States, beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Priced at $59.99 across all distributors, it also will be available via cable and satellite pay-per-view providers.
“It’s amazing. This is way better than anything I could ever imagine. To fight here in Las Vegas one week after my brother {Jason} became world champion in Stockton. You couldn’t write a better story. That’s why I’m excited about Saturday. This is destiny. I’m going to become world champion.”Andrew Moloney
“There’s no doubt that he is a good fighter. He was a world champion. He is undefeated. He has been avoided. But as you’ve seen with me and my brother, we will fight anyone.” he added.
“I’ve been training hard. All that is left is to demonstrate. I want to make a big impression on Las Vegas fans and all over the world. I’m confident that I will be going home with the belt.”
“I was able to spar with many different types of fighters. I sparred about 300 rounds. It was a lot of experience for me.”
“I feel that very confident because Rudy Hernandez [my trainer] is in my corner. I want to show what I’ve learned from him and Daisuke Okabe.”-Junto Nakatani