Undisputed super bantamweight Champion Naoya Inoue will be making a voluntary defense of his four 122-lb belts against Ireland’s TJ Doheny on September 3rd in a twelve-round fight that will be shown live on ESPN+ from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
Inoue-Doheny is expected to play out well in Japan because Doheny has recently fought there several times and picked up wins against non-top-level fighters. By beating Doheny, Inoue will look like a hero to his fans, but not with fans in the U.S. or UK, who have a negative view of this mismatch.
Doheny, 37, had been considered washed up by many boxing fans after losing four fights against top-level opposition from 2019 to 2023. He’s dragged himself back with three straight tune-up-level wins to get selected for the honor of fighting the Japanese superstar Inoue (27-0, 23 KOs).
This fight aligns more with Inoue’s current opposition, as he’s seemingly stopped taking risky matches after his war with Marlon Tapales. That one was a grueling contest for Inoue, who was hit hard by the powerful Filipino slugger until he pulled out the victory with a knockout in the tenth.
Undercard fights:
– Yoshiki Takei vs. Daigo Higa
– Ismael Barroso vs. Andy Hiraoka
Inoue has chosen to bypass his WBA mandatory Murodjon Akhmadaliev to take the lesser fight with Doheny, which some view as a duck move. Akhmadaliev’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is livid that Inoue ignored his fighter in favor of Doheny.
Hearn is apoplectic about Inoue choosing to fight Doheny rather than his guy, Akhadaliev, but it’s clear why he’s chosen to go that patch. That guy has power, which would be difficult for Inoue, who has had consecutive hard fights against Luis Nery and Marlon Tapales. Inoue got hit more in those fights than many of his others, which may have factored into his decision to face the light-hitting Doheny.
What makes things worse is that Inoue is expected to fight Sam Goodman, his IBF & WBA #1 contender, next, and then move up to featherweight.
It’s unclear what Inoue’s U.S. co-promoter Top Rank thinks of his choice of opponent and, more importantly, the hour the card will be piped into the United States, which will be early in the morning.
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