The “Monster” Naoya Inoue was left picking bits of TJ Doheny out of his teeth after savaging his prey in seven rounds inside Koto-Ku’s Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Afterwards, it was confirmed by promoter Bob Arum that Inoue will next have his customary end-of-year fight in Japan before embarking on a date in America to open his 2025 campaign.
What was expected to be a mismatch proved to be just so as the 31-year-old reminded the sport what happens when a superstar at the height of his powers is matched with a gatekeeper whose best days are in the past. Don’t blame Ireland’s Doheny, however. Though he limped away injured he gave this everything, taking the fight to Inoue at times but never once having any real success.
The 37-year-old’s career had been enjoying something of a renaissance, evidenced by some smart matchmaking that saw him win four of five bouts since a 2021 loss to Michael Conlan and secure a top 10 ranking with each of the sanctioning bodies. Even so, the Australia-based Irishman’s selection as challenger to the undisputed king raised plenty of eyebrows; though a former bantamweight belt-holder, he wasn’t ranked by the TBRB and his form in alphabet rankings-boosting continental title affairs not exactly worthy of taking on boxing’s most dangerous man.
Inoue, 28-0 (25 KOs), was careless in his previous bout and found himself on the floor early when caught by a Luis Nery counter but here, against another southpaw, the favourite opened with his right hand high as the crowd silently waited for the inevitable explosion.
It threatened to come midway through the second as Inoue positioned his stocky foe against the ropes and bulleted his right hand to the side of Doheny’s face. The Irishman’s shorts were high and whether a fashion statement or employed as extra protection, he certainly felt the right hands that banged into his ribs.
Doheny pluckily did his best to frustrate the champion, touching and moving rather than carelessly unloading, but as previous Inoue rivals have discovered, frustrating the Japanese superstar for short periods is one thing – achieving any kind of control quite another. Even so, by getting out of the third round, Doheny had already exceeded expectations.
Inoue was content to take his time, observing the feet of Doheny while plotting his opponent’s downfall. The veteran’s shaven head sprouted a bruise in the fourth as Inoue steadily upped his work-rate, cut off any escape routes and increased the venom in his supreme right hand.
But the huge underdog started the fifth in the ascendancy, even tagging his man with a glancing left and getting through on the inside with right leads. Inoue, meanwhile, deftly increased the pace by hurrying Doheny into action and then spearing the body. It seemed like a matter of time.
The pain the challenger was enduring grew in the sixth. First Inoue raided downstairs and then up, the blows causing Doheny’s legs to straighten and his face to bruise further.
Doheny, though, had never been stopped. Daniel Roman was forced to go 12 while defeating TJ in a bantamweight unification contest in 2019 and he’d heard the final bell against Ionut Baluta, Conlan and Sam Goodman. But there’s those guys and then there’s Inoue.
The end came just 16 seconds into the seventh. Inoue positioned his opponent on the ropes, again let fly at the ribs and after jerking awkwardly in a futile attempt to escape, Doheny indicated an injury to his back. As he limped back to his corner, it was clear the fight was over.
“I think it was an accumulation,” Inoue said afterwards about the anticlimactic finish. “I know boxing is not easy and tonight I wanted to slow down, I am still in progress, and respect my opponent… I want to thank TJ Doheny for all that he has done in his career.”
Blessed with more than just charm, Inoue has that unique quality of remaining elusive while frighteningly predatory, every bit of his body working in tandem to orchestrate victory. Whether he’s feinting or hitting, prodding or slugging, or moving one way and then the other, Inoue – still so quick to pull the trigger – is as hard to read as he is to survive. Doheny, in truth, never stood a chance.
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