Will stay at 122lbs for two more years
By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Undisputed world super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue will defend his belts against former IBF ruler TJ Doheny in Tokyo on September 3. It was announced on Tuesday by Ohashi Promotions, which will stage a deluxe show at Ariake Arena. “Monster” Naoya said, “I will stay at this 122-pound division for two more years. Without being physically mature and developed, I won’t move up to the feather category.”
Doheny, an Irishman now residing in Australia, sent his message to this press conference, saying, “I’m unbeaten four times in Japan. I won’t run away from Moinster but come to fight him toe-to-toe.”
On the same show, newly crowned WBO bantam titlist Yoshiki Takei will take on compatriot Daigo Higa, ex-WBC flyweight champ currently campaigning at 118, in his initial defense.
Also, WBA interim super light champ Ismael Barroso, Venezuela, will face WBA#7 unbeaten Andy Hiraoka in quest of the mandatory right against Isaac Cruz.
OPBF, WBO Asia Pacific welterweight champ Jin Sasaki will defend his regional belts against Australian Qamil Balla over twelve.
Japanese super bantam titleholder Toshiki Shimomachi, an elongated southpaw prospect, will put his national belt on the line against Ryuya Tsuda over ten. Also, Ohashi Promotions announced that should TJ Doheny become unavailable to fight Naoya Inoue, Shimomachi will become the challenger to Monster.
It will be shown by NTT Docomo here in Japan.
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This is an awful fight. Clearly Inoue is just looking for an easier one with but Goodman should be next in line, he’s #1 for the IBF and the WBO but he just fought and he’s injured and unavailable, so this fight should be with MJ.
Th undercard, on the other hand, is lovely. Takei – Higa and Barroso – Hiraoka are very interesting fights imo.
Yes, it is Lucie. He has earned it though. Maybe two rounds or three?
I wouldn’t predict it but, you go ask McDonnell and Payano about a second round and they’d have no idea about such a thing (Payano literally said that Inoue hit him with an “invisible” punch). I would not be completely shocked if he got rid of Doheny in the very first round.
Apart from probably looking for an easier one, Inoue is obviously mindful of the business side of things too, and this fight will do well because fans in Japan know T J Doheny more than any of the other names that real boxing fans would think Inoue should be fighting instead. Since his last loss to Sam Goodman, Doheny has won three fights in a row all held in Japan. The first was an upset win by TKO in 4 over 14-1-1 prospect Kazuki Nakajima in June 2023, He followed that up with a TKO1 win over Golden Boy prospect Japhethlee Llamido who was 11-0 in Oct 2023, then a TKO4 win over a 7-0-1 Phillipino fighter Bryl Bayogos in May 2024. So the Japanese fans have seen Doheny win by KO 3 times in a row. It seems that Inoue will probably now face Akhmadaliev and the other names fans want him to fight if he is to stay at 122 for 2 more years so it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things as Inoue will be around at 122 long enough to take on all the big names.
Justified stay busy fight for Inoue. There is no doubt in my mind that if Inoue is planning to stay at 122 for two more years, he is on collision course with two guys that can defeat him: Junto Nakatani and Jesse “bam” Rodriguez
This is clearly a cherry pick. TJ Doheny is a trash fighter with a 26-4 record who had lost to 3 fighters who had 15 or less career fights. Doherty hasn’t beaten any note worthy fighters. With all the good fighters out there that he could make a good fight with he makes this trash fight. Inoue is clearly taking a tune up fight for an easy win. He better destroy this man, it’s too be expected. He also better bounce back with a big fight. You have to hold everyone with the same accountability.
Relax. Inoue has had plenty of big fights and will continue on that track. Remember that our of 27 fights, that he has 22 world championship fights. A guy like Floyd Mayweather had 26 world championship fights total out of 50 fights. Inoue is already in the greatness zone. 😉
Mayweather fought the biggest and most accomplished fighters during those world title fights. It was a huge event in Boxing.
Hardly anybody know any of Inoue’s opponents to compare the 2 careers.
NJ, your lack of knowledge about his opponents says more about you than it does about them. Educate yourself on the lower divisions. It is where the most talented fighters are.
Floyd fought the biggest and most accomplished ??? Bullshit. Ill say you’re right bout 1 thing- you can’t compare the two. You don’t see inoue waiting till his biggest rival is 7 yrs past his prime to fight em. Inoue doesn’t move up in weight and give the champ some bs catchweight or rehydration clause crap. Because that’s chicken shit. Inoue wants to fight these men at their best because he’s a real fighter he’s not only in it for money he’s fighting for legacy !!
Haha But hey at least money made more money than inoue. Right ??
Stop the trash talk. Doheny is an excellent fighter and former world champion. His wins over Iwasa and Nakajima were good, and the Llamido KO was superb.
Doherty, on the other hand, I don’t know
Soon to be 28-0-25 KOs
That would mean 23-0-21 KOs in World Championship fights, which is phenomenal.
Inoue has earned the right to enjoy a lesser fight. Within the next two years, he will destroy Doheny, Goodman, Akhmadaliev, Casimero, and maybe Liam Davies. He will totally clean out this division. But there will still be idiots saying “Oh, he’s stalling moving up to featherweight”. Then he will move up to featherweight and destroy everyone there. Then what will the idiots say? It’s time everyone acknowledged that this man is already an all time great.
Tell those guys that Inoue is already 31 years old. GREATS like Mayweather AND Pacquiao, at age 31 or less, moved up to 147 and 10 years later they were still at 147. They just jumped to 154 for 1-2 fights maximum, so “those guys” that we just mentioned have absolutely no valid argument on what Inoue should do or not do weight wise. Absolutely no argument.
To add to what you just said:
Boxing Records in World Championship Fights: (Last update May 30th, 2024)
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr 31-4-2-22 KOs
“El Huracan” Omar Andres Narvaez 28-3-1-12 KOs
Joe Louis 26-1-0-22 KOs
Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr 26-0-0-10 KOs
Dariusz “Tiger” Michaelczewski 25-2-0-20 KOs
Ricardo “Finito” Lopez 25-0-1-19 KOs
“Dr. Steelhammer” Wladimir Klitschko 25-4-0-19 KOs
“The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya 24-5-0-17 KOs
Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins 24-5-2-13 KOs
Virgil “Quicksilver” Hill 24-5-0-7 KOs
Roy Jones Jr 23-3-0-14 KOs
Kazuto Ioka 23-2-1-11 KOs
Naoya “Monster” Inoue 22-0-0-20 KOs
Gennady “GGG” Golovkin 22-2-1-20 KOs
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez 22-2-1-11 KOs
“The Greatest” Muhammad Ali 22-3-0-14 KOs
Joe Calzaghe 22-0-0-11 KOs
Sven Ottke 22-0-0-5 KOs
Marco Antonio Barrera 21-4-0-12 KOs
Felix “Tito” Trinidad 20-1-0-16 KOs
Miguel Angel Cotto 20-6-0-16 KOs
Larry Holmes 20-5-0-14 KOs
Alexis Arguello 19-3-0-17 KOs
Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao 19-5-2-9 KOs
Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker 19-3-1-4 KOs
Terence “Bud” Crawford 18-0-0-15 KOs
I hope Doheny gets a nice payment for his upcoming KO loss.
Good fight for Inoue. Former champ with a strong fan base in Japan. He should look incredible which he is due an easier fight after fighting 3 great opponents in the last year.
In the last 12 months, Inoue moved up in weight into one of the best divisions in boxing and beat the number 1,2, and 3 fighters. Not only is nobody else doing this, nobody else has ever done that. Now he is fighting a tough, never say die, former champion and people are complaining. Unreal
Another European pastry to pass the time away, the Canelo playbook…smh. Having said that, you can’t fight an animal every time out.
Toe to toe, good luck with that, Inoue more then likely get some grief over not fighting another champion, Fulton can step up again, don’t bet on it.
Why do we need to see this, I mean he has the right to an easy fight but this is taking 10 steps backwards
“Why do we need to see this” is the wrong question. The right question is what has Doheny done to earn this shot? The answer is he is on a 3 fight winning streak in fights he was the underdog and all 3 fights were in Japan. He is also a former champion that has earned his stripes. This isn’t the best possible opponent for Inoue, but it is a credible contender.
Good points!