By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda (to come soon)
Undisputed 122-pound champion Naoya Inoue kept his belts by halting TJ Doheny at 0:16 of the seventh round on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Naoya maintained the pressure on the more experienced Doheny, who abruptly complained of his lumbago and his incapability to walk and fight. It might be a disappointing end, but Inoue showed his strength and kept his belts with no problem.
(More to come)
MON -STA!!!
Doheny was never going to win this fight, Inoue was just starting to turn the heat up and the left hook to the body let Doherty realize that.
It was only a matter of time.
He faked an injury to prevent being koed.. Inoue is a real monster he cleaned every division he was in but moving in weight isn’t a good idea because his opponents are now becomming too big.. He is the real P4P king with the winner of Bivol vs Beterbiev in my opinion..
I hope they paid TJ very well to go through that.
I can see what TJ was trying to do by trying to lure Inoue in to them catch a few times with hard counters, but he just could not pull the trigger fast enough and he found himself a step behind the entire way. He also spend too much energy on one game plan and was pretty much out of gas by the second half of the fight.
Inoue build his plan over the first 4 rounds then got to work like a true champion. I think 122 is a good weight and he should not try to go any further.
The injury was either real or Doheny dropped some serious cash on the over under 5th round KO finish. I’m just kidding….a little bit.
Academic, expected, except that Doehny forgot his waker and that gave him some pain
Unclear to me how Doheny got injured except that his body gave in after absorbing Inoue’s brutal shots.
I hope old man doesn’t end up with permanent damage! It was an expected outcome since day 1
Hamed vs Inoue, both in their prime, at 122. I say Hamed because Inoue gets hit with clean shots, especially the left cross. Hamed was a brutal puncher. Who do you think wins, and why?
It would be an exciting fight indeed.
You’re right, Inoue gets hit sometimes. The biggest risk of a loss for him is an opponent landing that punch.
Hamed was an extremely exciting and fun boxer to follow. However, his biggest problem was that he was open to punches.
I don’t see how Hamed could beat Inoue.
Especially against Inoue, it’s not a good idea to attack with the tip of the chin first, besides that, sooner or later I also think that Inoue would grind Hamed down.
I think the fight would end before the championship rounds in Inoues favour.
Stickltln… understand your position both have Power and place punches well…power edge going to Hamed…Hamed gets hit also… particularly from above average technical boxers…I.e.Kelly and Barrera ….Inoue just special… technically superior just of “elite” special…can see Hamed getting KOed or beat into submission ….
The guy have 37 years old
Most likely Inoue wanted to go that far in the fight
I didn’t see the fight, but did Doheny actually get injured by a punch to the hip?
He got hit at least twice and Doheny complained to a deaf ref as it seemed a deliberate tactic to me
He’s the Son Goku of the division and the rest are Yamchas.
No shocker because the Monster is HOF AMAZING!!
I hope they can later arrange Inoue vs. Goodman.
Zzzzzzzz may cause Inoue to leave 122 and fight at 126 – this may happen after he fights Goodman. At 126, Inoue will encounter challenges to avoid any zzzzzzzzz.
We will see.
When is this guy gonna step up and face Casimero?
This was just a stay busy type of fight. He’s already undisputed and its pointless to stay at 122. He’s big enough for 126. Naseem Hamed was 5’3 and destroying guys at 126 so I have no doubt Monster can do the same.
Good fight, things I noticed with the fight,
1- Inoue can be hit.
2- TJ used his veteran moves and fainting, but w/o a respectable power to get Inoue’s respect, it was just a matter of time.
3- Inoue seems to be a bit more cautious than usual, maybe he keeps in mind and trained to avoid another Nery knockdown.
4- After the body shot, TJ with his gloves signaled to Inoue, “wait a minute” Inoue was a gentleman and did not attack TJ, others (a la Mayweather v. Vicious Ortiz), would have kept throwing punches.
Tai…did notice that Inonoue…was very cautious this fight…learned from that knockdown against Nery….Inonoue boxing IQ very high…adjusted from last fight…but still aggressively progressing…that right “progressing”and that is downright scary because Inonoue has a humbleness with it….
If he’s really #1 PP, why does he fight #14th 37 old… To avoid any risk?
Probably get a lot of grief, but I did not think inoue looked all that good yesterday. He got the win and that counts, but Doheny was frustrating him. I thought Doheny fought well, not for the win, but definitely future opponents could look at. Hopefully an off night because inoue is an elite fighter.
I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU GUYS BUT I WANT TO SEE INOUE AND TANK
I continue to be impressed with Inoue. Just a great fighter. Always prepared, respectful, not about hype and marketing. He’s my favorite fighter today.