Yoshiki Takei aims to complete his transition from K1 to boxing against Jason Moloney

Although Yoshiki Takei has only had 8 professional boxing matches, he is experienced in combat sports and intends to tap into that when he faces WBO bantamweight titlist Jason Moloney at the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, on Monday.

Takei, who was a former K1 champion, before switching to boxing in 2020, hopes to make good on his huge opportunity.

“I am the most motivated of all of my 17-year fight career in all martial arts,” Takei (8-0, 8 knockouts) told The Ring. “This is going to be the culmination of everything that I have done over the course of my career as a fighter. I’m really excited about showcasing my all.

“So far, I don’t feel any kind of anxiety or nervousness although I don’t know how I’ll feel when the day actually comes. For now, I’m only looking forward to the fight. Yeah, I’m 100 percent excited.”

The power-punching 27-year-old southpaw feels that while he has got his title shot relatively early he is still confident because of his backers Mr. Ohashi and trainer Akira Yaegashi’s belief in him.

“Greatly thanks to Mr. Ohashi for having me in this unprecedented event to get me a title shot opportunity at a really good timing in my career,” he said humbly. “According to a number of people, notably Mr. Ohashi, I ‘have’ the gifted force to draw in and seize major opportunities. However, I cannot be satisfied just because the force has brought me this golden opportunity, and it would be no use if I end up without a win. I believe that my natural born force can only be truly proven by winning the world crown on this particular stage.

“I want to live up to the expectations of Mr. Ohashi and trainer [former three-weight world champion Akira] Yaegashi, who gave me the green light to compete. I know they never decide on the pivotal contests without considering their fighter’s ability and potential to win, which gave me more confidence than anything else, honestly. I will do my absolute best to ensure that (the talent that they) believe in may ever be with me.”

Takei openly admits that the defending champions holds several advantages over him, but remains confident in his own ability to overcome those obstacles and win the world title.

“I rate Moloney really highly in his skill set and boxing I.Q.,” he explained. “His skills are so well balanced that it makes him a versatile fighter, who does everything craftily. He has a much longer career than me, and he has better technique and speed. I am very fast myself, but I pay attention to his speed. He is fast in everything; fast on his feet, and of course, fast in his hand speed, too. A bit more to the point, he has particularly fast in-and-out movement, while constantly moving on his feet, but you know, I may be better than him in explosive speed capacity in a split second.

“I honestly acknowledge that he is better than me in speed, power and technique, but he is still probably better than I know or imagine he is. If I lose my sharpness and show even the slightest opening, even for a moment, he will never miss it. He would make the most of it and attack me at once, ending up in big trouble. To make sure that doesn’t happen, I must keep the sense of risk and elaborate set of precautions high in everything I see and feel.”

Yoshiki Takei (center)

Meanwhile, he feels he can offset the known strengths of Moloney with his unorthodox style and potential physical advantages.

“For better or worse, I don’t fit into the conventional boxing style, even single basic guard and jab, and I don’t box too much,” he admitted. “As for defense, I don’t think about it too much because my defense is highly based on my animal-like instinct as I am not the kind of fighter who takes punches on guard in the first place. Thus, my style is not textbook boxing, and that is exactly my big weapon, and I want to put that against him. Another weapon is that I have fought in many big K1 tournaments in the past, so I am used to such a big stage. Fighting in the Tokyo Dome is still a tremendous commitment, I can just go there and have fun. Yes, I am tense, honestly, but not at all in a negative way at all, and I’m sure I can enjoy the event with a certain sense of risk in my head.

“On the day, when I face him in the ring and will decide flexibly what the most preferable fighting style is in accordance with how the actions flows. Who knows if he will fight in a very different style from mine, sticking to the boxing basics, trading jab, jab and jab very carefully with my hands up and elbows in, unnecessarily all the time, or I may swoop in to unleash my attack, showing my trademark wild side. It all depends on how I perceive and feel the atmosphere in the ring. So I don’t know how I will fight or what will happen until the fight begins. Either way, I will demonstrate my full potential in unpredictable ways. I hope you enjoy everything about me, including the way I fight.

“When the opening bell rings, I see all kinds of scenario’s unfold before my eyes, and I think I can grow myself with a lot of power from huge audience watching over me where I can demonstrate my abilities more than ever before. In fact, that is where the big potential lies and I am placing my bets on.

“Big stages, including the K1 events, have often enabled me a lot to perform moves I had never done in practice. Without relying on that expectation alone, however, I have to strive to enhance the level of my fundamental skills to the next level in various ways. I believe in my extra growth on the fight day, too.”

Previously, Takei successfully defended his OPBF 122-pound title against Moloney’s stablemate Bruno Tarimo.

However, he was able to tap into pound-for-pound star, Naoya Inoue, who stopped Moloney in seven rounds, for some advice.

“I don’t think it has much to do with it. The Bruno Tarimo outing back then was tough, but it was my first experience fighting long rounds, up to 11 rounds, which was a valuable asset for me,” he said. “Moloney may have been given information from their team about my boxing that was collected during my fight with Tarimo.

“Likewise, I have heard a lot from my fellow [stablemate] Naoya Inoue since he fought Moloney. Therefore, I score the pre-fight ‘intelligence warfare’ even.

“I learned a lot from Naoya especially when he gave me an opportunity to spar lightly with him in Korea, he precisely copied Moloney’s style and targeted my weak spots and flaws to reveal and highlight areas to improve. Naoya purposely made moves to put me in unfavorable situations in order to teach me, firsthand, how to fight Moloney. I learned a lot, but his advice is a trade secret. Please be patient until the day of the match. [laughter]”

Takei, who had had training camp in Kashima, says he focused on improving his own strengths and intends to complete his mission.

“I want to become a fighter who will go down in history. If I become the first former K1 champion to win the boxing world championship belt here, I can then become a fighter in history,” he said. “With respect to kickboxing, there are successful fighters who switched from Muay Thai to international style and won world titles.

“My motivation is that if I win, I will be written in history as the first Japanese ever to achieve it. I will seize this opportunity to earn the belt for sure.”

Moloney (26-2, 19 KOs), rated at No. 2 by The Ring at bantamweight, comfortably climbed the rankings and stopped former titleholder Kohei Kono (TKO 6) in 2018. The 33-year-old then took part in the WBSS, and although he lost to IBF titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez (SD 12), the Australian boxer-puncher showed more than enough to suggest that he belongs. He rebounded with four wins to earn a shot at Ring, IBF and WBA titleholder Naoya Inoue. It proved a bridge too far and he was stopped in seven ounds.

He won three fights before landing a WBC eliminator against Nawaphon Sor Rungvisai (UD 12). When undisputed champion Inoue moved up in weight, the titles became vacant and Moloney bested Vincent Astrolabio (MD 12) to fill the WBO vacancy and has made one defense in an early Fight of the Year contender against Saul Sanchez (MD 12).

Inoue-Nery, plus undercard bouts, will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 4 a.m. ET/ 1 a.m. PT and at 9 a.m. GMT.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

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