Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) stopped a very old-looking TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) in the seventh round on Tuesday night at the Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan.
(Credit: Naoki Fukuda)
The 37-year-old Irish native Doheny abruptly quit in the seventh round due to a lower back injury. At the stoppage, Doheny had been leaning back against the ropes, using his ostrich-style defense, which put stress on his back.
A Less Than Convincing Win
Doheny suddenly quit and limped around the ring, holding his lower back. It wasn’t much of a fight. The time of the stoppage was at 0:16 of round seven.
After a slow start, the bigger fighter, Doheny, was on the attack in rounds five and six, lighting Inoue up with shots and finding it surprisingly easy to hit him. The southpaw Doheny was catching Inoue at will with left hands thrown straight down the pipe, and it looked so easy.
The Japanese star tried to use a little head movement, but it was nowhere near enough to avoid getting nailed by Doheny’s left hands.
‘Monster’ Inoue’s offense was his defense in the fifth and sixth rounds, as he was forced to veer away from his usual single-shot offense to throw more punches, and he barely got the better of Doheny.
What made Inoue’s life easier in the fifth and sixth was Doheny’s foolish move to back up against the corner and fight from that vantage point. It was an amateur move, and Doheny should have known better because he was at his best in the center of the ring, attacking the very hittable Inoue.
Questionable Tactics
One thing that annoyed Dohoney was that Inoue hit him after the bell in a couple of rounds. He was seen complaining about it, but it didn’t change Inoue’s habits. The Japanese star needed every advantage he could get tonight because he looked average.
Inoue, 31, was loading up on single shots throughout the seven-round contest, not throwing many punches and never combinations. It looked like he assumed that he would score a single-punch knockout like he’d done fighting in the 108, 112, 115, and 118-lb weight classes.
Inoue’s power was more formidable fighting in those divisions than it is at 122, and he’s picked up some bad habits from loading up on single shots that are now making his fights more complicated at super bantamweight.
A Fading “Monster”?
Tonight’s Inoue-Doheny fight showed that Inoue is not the same fighter he once was in the lower weight classes; he’s aged, lost hand speed, and is not the one-punch KO artist he’d been in the past. That might explain Inoue’s reluctance to climb to featherweight [126].
If Inoue moves up to 126, the killers—Bruce Carrington, Angelo Leo, Rafael Espinoza, Rey Vargas, Robeisy Ramirez, Nick Ball, and Brandon Figueroa—will beat him badly.
All seven of those fighters will beat ‘Monster’ Inoue and make it look easy. I doubt that Inoue will move up to 126 because he knows he’d be overmatched against those talented fighters.
He’d rather play it safe, fighting in the dead 122-lb division, earning a nice living in Tokyo, Japan, and beating the lesser fighters in this weight class. It’s much safer for Inoue at super bantamweight than going up to 126 and getting the living daylights beaten out of him by Carrington, Leo, Espinoza, Robeisy, and Ball. Those guys are a lot better than Inoue.
I don’t blame Inoue. He’s got good a good, making millions in Japan, beating old scrubs like we saw tonight, and not having to deal with fighters that would tear him apart at featherweight. I’d do the same thing if I were Inoue. Take the easy money against the lesser fighters at 122 and avoid taking risks.
Inoue’s Future at Featherweight
If Inoue moves up to 126, he won’t last a minute once he gets in with the main population in this division. He won’t be protected anymore and will be among the killers. What we saw tonight is Inoue is a hype job and not the fighter that the naive fans had thought.
He’s a one-trick pony who got over being more powerful than the lesser opposition in the lower weight classes, but he’s now being exposed at 122, and it will get much worse for him if he goes up to 126.
Inoue will be put under a microscope at featherweight, showing all his defects and flaws for the fans to see if he chooses to step out of his comfort zone and move up to featherweight to take on the talents in that well-stocked division.
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