Undisputed tremendous bantamweight Champion Naoya Inoue shall be making a voluntary protection of his 4 122-lb belts towards Eire’s TJ Doheny on September third in a twelve-round struggle that shall be proven dwell on ESPN+ from the Ariake Area in Tokyo.
Inoue-Doheny is predicted to play out nicely in Japan as a result of Doheny has just lately fought there a number of occasions and picked up wins towards non-top-level fighters. By beating Doheny, Inoue will appear like a hero to his followers, however not with followers within the U.S. or UK, who’ve a adverse view of this mismatch.
Doheny, 37, had been thought-about washed up by many boxing followers after dropping 4 fights towards top-level opposition from 2019 to 2023. He’s dragged himself again with three straight tune-up-level wins to get chosen for the glory of preventing the Japanese celebrity Inoue (27-0, 23 KOs).
This struggle aligns extra with Inoue’s present opposition, as he’s seemingly stopped taking dangerous matches after his battle with Marlon Tapales. That one was a grueling contest for Inoue, who was hit arduous by the highly effective Filipino slugger till he pulled out the victory with a knockout within the tenth.
Undercard fights:
– Yoshiki Takei vs. Daigo Higa
– Ismael Barroso vs. Andy Hiraoka
Inoue has chosen to bypass his WBA necessary Murodjon Akhmadaliev to take the lesser struggle with Doheny, which some view as a duck transfer. Akhmadaliev’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is furious that Inoue ignored his fighter in favor of Doheny.
Hearn is apoplectic about Inoue selecting to struggle Doheny reasonably than his man, Akhadaliev, nevertheless it’s clear why he’s chosen to go that patch. That man has energy, which might be tough for Inoue, who has had consecutive arduous fights towards Luis Nery and Marlon Tapales. Inoue obtained hit extra in these fights than a lot of his others, which can have factored into his resolution to face the light-hitting Doheny.
What makes issues worse is that Inoue is predicted to struggle Sam Goodman, his IBF & WBA #1 contender, subsequent, after which transfer as much as featherweight.
It’s unclear what Inoue’s U.S. co-promoter Prime Rank thinks of his selection of opponent and, extra importantly, the hour the cardboard shall be piped into the US, which shall be early within the morning.
