Jason Moloney will head in a different direction in hopes of claiming a bantamweight title.

BoxingScene.com has learned that the two-time title challenger is currently in talks with Thailand’s Nawaphon Por Chokchai in a final eliminator to determine the mandatory challenger for the WBC bantamweight title. The move comes after Moloney was forced to abandon an IBF eliminator with Scotland’s Lee McGregor, who instead opted to next defend his EBU European bantamweight title in a recently announced co-promotional pact with Matchroom Boxing and Probellum.

McGregor will face Armenia’s Narek Abgaryan on December 18 at AO Arena in Manchester, England. Plans to fill the IBF bantamweight mandatory contender slot have yet to be revealed.

That is no longer of any concern to Moloney, who now hopes to face reigning WBC titlist Nonito Donaire (41-6, 27KOs). Such a path makes more sense, as a win over McGregor would have positioned Moloney to rematch reigning WBA/IBF titlist Naoya Inoue (21-0, 18KOs), who dominated the Australian bantamweight over seven rounds last Halloween in Las Vegas.

Moloney rebounded with a ten-round win over Joshua Greer this past August and was prepared to step up in class versus the unbeaten McGregor.

Instead, he will next face a former title challenger in Por Chokchai (51-1-1, 41KOs) who has won fifteen straight following his lone career defeat. The loss came in a third-round stoppage to Mexico’s Juan Hernandez in their March 2017 vacant WBC flyweight title fight. Por Chokchai moved up to junior bantamweight soon thereafter, most notably in a fifth round stoppage of countryman and former flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng in April 2018.

From there came another move in weight, with Por Chokchai’s last ten fights taking place at bantamweight. The entirety of his career has taken place in Thailand, though the 30-year-old Bangkok native will have to hit the road for his ordered title eliminator.

Moloney-Por Chokchai will likely wind up in the United States, though final details are expected to be revealed during the WBC’s annual convention. The ratings and mandatory contender portion of the week-long event is scheduled for Tuesday, at which time the sanctioning body will honor the current talks in place or force the matter to head to a purse bid.

The winner will become the mandatory challenger to Donaire, who became a three-time bantamweight titlist following a fourth-round knockout of unbeaten Nordine Oubaali this past May 29 in Carson, California. Donaire will return to the venue for a December 11 title defense versus Reymart Gaballo.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox