Although Yoshiki Takei has only had eight professional boxing fights, he has experience in combat sports and he intends to utilize it when he faces WBO bantamweight champion Jason Moloney on Monday at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo.

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

“I am the most motivated in my entire 17-year fighting career in all martial arts,” Takei (8-0, 8 knockouts) told The Ring. “It will be the culmination of everything I have done during my playing career. I’m very excited to showcase everything.

“I don’t feel any anxiety or nervousness so far, although I don’t know how I’ll feel when that day comes. For now, I’m looking forward to the fight. Yes, I’m 100 percent excited.”

The power-hitting 27-year-old southpaw believes that even though he got a title shot relatively early, he is still confident because his fans, Mr. Ohashi, and coach Akira Yaegashi believe in him.

“Thank you very much to Mr. Ohashi for inviting me to this unprecedented event that gave me a chance to fight for the title at a really good time in my career,” he said humbly. “According to many people, especially Mr. Ohashi, I ‘possess’ the gifted power to attract and pursue great opportunities. However, I cannot be satisfied just because the force gave me this great opportunity and there would be no point if I ended up without a victory. I believe that my innate strength can only truly be proven by winning the world crown at this particular stage.

“I want to meet the expectations of Mr. Ohashi and the coach [former three-weight world champion Akira] Yaegashi, who gave me the green airy to compete. I know they never decide key fights without considering their fighter’s ability and potential to win, which honestly gave me more confidence than anything else. I will do everything in my power to make sure that the talent they believe in will always be with me.

Takei openly admits that the defending champions have some advantages over him, but he remains confident that he can overcome these obstacles and win the world title.

“I rate Moloney very highly in terms of his skills and boxing IQ,” he explained. “His skills are so well-balanced that they make him a well-rounded fighter who does everything smartly. He has a much longer career than me, he has better technique and speed. I’m very speedy myself, but I pay attention to his speed. He is speedy at everything; quick on his feet and, of course, also quick in his hands. More specifically, he has particularly speedy forward and backward movements while constantly moving on his feet, but you know, I may be better than him in terms of split-second explosive speed.

“I honestly admit he’s better than me in terms of speed, power and technique, but he’s still probably better than I know or imagine. If I lose focus and show even the slightest opening, he will never miss it. He would make the best of it and attack me right away, which would end up in substantial trouble. To make sure this doesn’t happen, I must maintain a sense of risk and a elaborate set of precautions in everything I see and feel.”

Yoshiki Takei (center)

Meanwhile, he feels he can balance Moloney’s known strengths with his unconventional style and potential physical advantages.

“For better or worse, I don’t fit into the conventional style of boxing, even with the single basic guard and jab, and I don’t box very much,” he admitted. “When it comes to defense, I don’t think about it too much because my defense relies a lot on my animal instinct because I’m not the type of fighter who primarily takes punches to defend myself. So my style is not textbook boxing and that’s my biggest weapon and I want to utilize that against him. Another weapon is that I have fought in many substantial K1 tournaments in the past, so I am used to such a substantial stage. Fighting in the Tokyo Dome is still a huge commitment, I can just go there and have fun. Yes, to be straightforward, I’m tense, but not at all in a negative way, and I’m sure I can enjoy this event with some risk in my mind.

“The day I face him in the ring and I will flexibly decide what my most preferred fighting style is, depending on the course of action. Who knows if he will fight in a completely different style than mine, sticking to the basics of boxing, changing jab, jab and jab very carefully with his hands up and elbows up, unnecessarily all the time, lest I burst in and unleash my attack, showing off my signature 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 and what will happen before the fight starts. Either way, I will show my full potential in unpredictable ways. I hope you like everything about me, including the way I fight.

“When the opening bell rings, I see all sorts of scenarios unfolding before my eyes and I think I can develop with the great power of having a huge audience watching over me, where I can showcase my skills more than ever before. In fact, this is where the great potential lies and that’s what I’m betting on.

“The substantial stages, including the K1 events, often allowed me to make moves I had never done in practice. Without relying solely on these expectations, however, I must strive to take my basic skills to the next level in various ways. I also believe in my additional development on fight day.”

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

However, he managed to seek advice from pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue, who stopped Moloney in seven rounds.

“I don’t think that has much to do with it. The fight with Bruno Tarimo was challenging at that time, but it was my first experience in fighting for long rounds, up to 11, which was a valuable acquisition for me,” he said. “Moloney was able to receive information from his team about my boxing that was collected during my fight with Tarimo.

“I heard a similar lot from my colleague [stablemate] Naoya Inoue since the Moloney fight. That’s why I even evaluate the “intelligence war” before fighting.

“I learned a lot from Naoya, especially when he gave me the opportunity to lightly spar with him in Korea, he exactly copied Moloney’s style and targeted my faint spots and flaws to discover and highlight areas for improvement. Naoya deliberately took actions to put me at a disadvantage in order to teach me first-hand how to fight Moloney. I learned a lot, but his advice is a trade secret. Please be patient until match day. [laughter]”

Takei, who completed a training camp in Kashima, says he has focused on improving his 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 world boxing championship belt here, I could become the fighter in history,” he said. “When it comes to kickboxing, there are successful fighters who have transitioned from Muay Thai to the international style and have won world titles.

“My motivation is that if I win, I will make history as the first Japanese to do so. I will definitely utilize this opportunity to win the belt.”

Moloney (26-2, 19 KO), rated No. 2 by The Ring in the bantamweight division, steadily climbed the rankings and defeated former titleholder Kohei Kono (TKO 6) in 2018. The 33-year-old then took part in the WBSS gala and although he lost to IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez (SD 12), the Australian boxer-puncher showed more than enough to suggest that he belonged to him. He rebounded with four wins and had a shot at Ring, IBF and WBA titleholder Naoya Inoue. It turned out to be a bridge too far and he was stopped after seven rounds.

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

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