Naoya Inoue v TJ Doheny

Irish southpaw TJ Doheny is to challenge undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on 3 September.

Inoue, regarded as one of the best pound for pound boxers in the world, is unbeaten in 27 contests and has knocked out his last eight opponents.

The Japanese fighter secured his first world title more than 10 years ago and has won all 22 of his world championship bouts.

Doheny, from Portlaoise, has spent all of his career outside of Europe, fighting in Australia, US and most recently Japan.

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The 37-year-old defeated Ryosuke Iwasa in August 2018 to secure the IBF junior featherweight title and defended successfully against Ryohei Takahashi, before losing the belt to Danny Roman in a unification fight.

Despite some setbacks, Doheny has bounced back with three consecutive wins in Japan against Kazuki Nakajima, Japhethlee Llamido and Bryl Bayogos.

Inoue knocked out England's Paul Butler to unify all the bantamweight titles in December 2022 and then did likewise in the super bantamweight division, collecting the WBC and WBO world titles by stopping Stephen Fulton in July 2023 and adding the WBA and IBF crowns by seeing off Marlon Tapales in December.

The 31-year-old was named 2023 Fighter of the Year by ESPN and Ring Magazine and returned to headline at the Tokyo Dome in May, surviving a first-round knockdown to knock out Mexican two-division champion Luis Nery in the sixth.

Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum said: "Naoya Inoue is a generational talent, and every time he fights, the boxing world stops to watch the master at work.

"TJ Doheny is a veteran who can never be counted out as he's defied the odds many times when fighting in Japan."

Also on the bill, WBO bantamweight world champion Yoshiki Takei will defend his belt against former flyweight world champion Daigo Higa.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/a...s/c3g0v7qnzjyo

Boxing chief Eddie Hearn, who took to X to post a pile of poo emoji underneath a poster for the fight.

When reports first emerged that Doheny was the frontrunner to box Inoue next, Hearn told BoxNation: "Gutted, devastated, disappointing for boxing. Disappointing for Japan.

"If I hadn't worked with TJ Doheny five or six years ago I would really go in on this fight.

"But I don't want to disrespect TJ because he's a nice guy."

Hearn was hoping for Inoue to take a mandatory defence against his client and WBA No.1 Murodjon Akhmadaliev, but it wasn't to be.

"It's a horrific mismatch," he added. "I don't understand why, for some reason, Team Inoue and Mr. Honda and everyone, I know for a fact, they don't like the Akhmadaliev fight.

"I don't understand that you've got a pound-for-pound arguably number one, who has the opportunity to fight his mandatory.

"I wouldn't expect him to pick Akhmadaliev in a voluntary... It's hard to say Inoue is ducking Akhmadaliev, but he actually is."

https://talksport.com/sport/1968880/...ent-tj-doheny/

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Akhmadaliev already lost his place to Tapales. Wait in line

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Master

Boxing chief Eddie Hearn, who took to X to post a pile of poo emoji underneath a poster for the fight.

When reports first emerged that Doheny was the frontrunner to box Inoue next, Hearn told BoxNation: "Gutted, devastated, disappointing for boxing. Disappointing for Japan.

"If I hadn't worked with TJ Doheny five or six years ago I would really go in on this fight.

"But I don't want to disrespect TJ because he's a nice guy."

Hearn was hoping for Inoue to take a mandatory defence against his client and WBA No.1 Murodjon Akhmadaliev, but it wasn't to be.

"It's a horrific mismatch," he added. "I don't understand why, for some reason, Team Inoue and Mr. Honda and everyone, I know for a fact, they don't like the Akhmadaliev fight.

"I don't understand that you've got a pound-for-pound arguably number one, who has the opportunity to fight his mandatory.

"I wouldn't expect him to pick Akhmadaliev in a voluntary... It's hard to say Inoue is ducking Akhmadaliev, but he actually is."

https://talksport.com/sport/1968880/...ent-tj-doheny/

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Eddie's a dick, fair play. How many madatories have his plastic world champions avoided going back?
If Inoue was with him, he'd be creaming his pants over him .

Anyone that accuses Inoue of ducking DKSAB.

mj will get his when naoya's ready. i'm glad naoya is making these featherweights wait. he might be at this weight for another two years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56AmTgfefD8

Fulton, Tapales, Nery and Doheny all in the span of 13+ months for full unification. Absolutely unreal the low-key disrespect he takes based on controlling his own p4p career and that he "only fights in Japan". It's not like Inoue isn't running thru top competition between the ropes. Granted...the 5am cards can make it impossible to tune in "live" for the most part. Doheny is no meek pup and he'll make plenty of noise before it's all over.

Inoue is fighting in the week which normally good as I can watch at work live but I have a meeting so annoyed I will miss it.

Any reason why they fight in the week in Japan?

I can't tell you the exact reason Inoue fights on a Tuesday but if he's fighting in Japan at Ariake Arena he seems to prefer to fight on Tuesday.

In some cases and countries a mid week fight can be due to clashes with other sports or events.

Doheny is 4-0 (3 KOs) in Japan, the 2nd of those being a KO1 over Inoue's friend and sparring partner Japhethlee Llamido. Everything is stacked against him but Doheny has some buzz around him in Japan off his recent form and he's a former champion. There have been worse stay busy opponents. Not to disparage Doheny but I expect Inoue to score a spectacular KO!

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This is a tough cagey contest for Inoue but he is hurting Doheny now after the 6th round.

Doheny has retired in the 7th round with an injured back. His old body has given way.

a workman like showing from inoue. he warmed up & was about to finish things off when i think tj thought better of continuing & pulled an injury