Pound-for-pound star and reigning unified super-bantamweight champ Naoya Inoue will, as followers know, subsequent face Irish warrior TJ Doheny. Who? That is the response some followers have had on the struggle announcement. Southpaw Doheny is 37 years outdated and he has file at 26-4(20), with him by no means having been stopped. Doheny, a former IBF super-bantamweight champion, has gained his final three fights by stoppage, with every of them happening in Japan, the place he’ll face “The Monster” on September third.
Doheny final tasted defeat in March of final 12 months, when he dropped a choice towards Sam Goodman, who’s Inoue’s IBF obligatory challenger (and can virtually actually be subsequent for Inoue, assuming Doheny doesn’t pull off the, pardon the pun, monster upset in September). Goodman was anticipated to have been subsequent for Inoue, however the Australian fighter injured his hand in a keep-busy struggle that he determined to take forward of his shot at Inoue.
So, in comes Doheny, and it’s honest to say that the critics have had a good bit to say about this struggle. Certainly, Eddie Hearn has gone so far as to say the struggle is “a horrific mismatch.”
Talking with BoxNation, Hearn mentioned Inoue ought to be going through his WBA obligatory, Murodjon Akhmadaliev subsequent, not Doheny.
“Gutted, devastated, disappointing for boxing. Disappointing for Japan,” Hearn mentioned of the upcoming struggle between Inoue and Doheny. “If I hadn’t labored with TJ Doheny 5 or 6 years in the past I might actually go in on this struggle. However I don’t wish to disrespect TJ as a result of he’s a pleasant man. It’s a horrific mismatch. I don’t perceive why, for some purpose, Staff Inoue and Mr. Honda and everybody, I do know for a reality they don’t just like the Akhmadaliev struggle. I don’t perceive that you just’ve received a pound-for-pound arguably primary, who has the chance to struggle his obligatory. I wouldn’t anticipate him to select Akhmadaliev in a voluntary…..it’s laborious to say Inoue is ducking Akhmadaliev, however he really is.”
Is Hearn being too harsh right here, or is he spot on? Doheny will in fact not like being known as a challenger who will give Inoue nothing greater than “a horrific mismatch,” any greater than Inoue will like being referred to as a ducker. In time, if Inoue will get previous Doheny after which Goodman, and if he then fights and defeats Akhmadaliev, everybody might be glad.
However for now, Inoue is broadly anticipated to have his means with Doheny, even when the powerful Irishman has by no means been KO’d. Will this transformation on September third?
