Home Columns Naoya Inoue vs TJ Doheny – Results & Post-Fight Report

Naoya Inoue vs TJ Doheny – Results & Post-Fight Report

Inoue secures TKO victory over Doheny in Japan

By
Paul Mason
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Despite his achievements, Inoue is not Froch's number one Photo Credit: Naoki Fukuda
Despite his achievements, Inoue is not Froch's number one Photo Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Naoya Inoue defended his undisputed super bantamweight title, as an injury to TJ Doheny forced him to be stopped in the seventh round at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) made the first defence of his new undisputed crown in May, as he broke down Luis Nery at the Tokyo Dome for a sixth round success after climbing off the canvas in the first round. Former world champion, Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) looked on the way out after a series of losses , but resurfaced in Japan, taking a hattrick of stoppage wins against favoured prospects.

After a quiet opener, Inoue landed with a hard right hand in the second, but the visitor had plenty of success in round three, landing to the body of the champion.

The home favourite had success of his own to the body in round four, and he upped the pressure and the ante in the next couple of sessions, with the end of the sixth seeing the Irishman under heavy fire and hurt.

At the start of the seventh, Inoue attacked, and Doheny backed up awkwardly, signalling that either his back or hip was leaving him unable to continue, and the referee signalled the end of the bout.

Doheny withdrew during the seventh round of his battle with Inoue through injury Photo Credit: Hiro Komae/AP
Doheny withdrew during the seventh round of his battle with Inoue through injury Photo Credit: Hiro Komae/AP

The ‘Monster’ is set to return to action before the end of the year and fight in Las Vegas in 2025, his promoter Bob Arum revealed post-fight.

Takei overcomes Higa

Yoshiki Takei headed the undercard and needed a huge last round to retain his WBO bantamweight title in an all-Japanese battle against Daigo Higa.

The pair each had their successes during the contest, but Takei (10-0, 8 KOs) was leaky in defence, and easy to hit.

The champion was adjudged to have been knocked down in the penultimate round from what looked like a slip, and he responded by piling on the pressure in the final frame, connecting with several punches on a tired Higa (21-3-1, 19 KOs).

That proved the difference in the end, as two scores of 114-113, and a third at 115-112 ensured the 28-year-old kept his belt.

Hiraoka halts Barroso

Andy Hiraoka won his WBA super lightweight title eliminator against former lightweight world champion Ismael Barroso, as he scored three knockdowns in a ninth round stoppage win.

Barroso (25-5-2, 23 KOs) was decked in the sixth from a questionable clubbing right hand, and the ninth saw a volley of power punches put the Venezuelan over again.

Although he survived the count, a vicious Hiraoka (24-0, 19 KOs) combination had him over again, but shortly after beating the count once more, Barroso’s corner had seen enough.

Remaining Undercard

Jin Sasaki (18-1-1, 17 KOs) defended his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental & Pacific Federation welterweight titles with a seventh round stoppage over Qamil Balla.

Balla (15-2-1, 8 KOs) sustained a nasty cut on his eye and nose damage in round two, and a massive counter left hand had the Aussie over in the third.

The 35-year-old bravely battled on, but the end came after a two-fisted onslaught in the seventh caused the referee to wave the fight off with Balla falling to the canvas.

Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs) opened the show, and began well in defence of his Japanese super bantamweight title, but faded, and was dropped in round eight by Ryuya Tsugawa (13-2, 9 KOs), before retaining his belt on the scorecards.

It was a lot closer than cards of 96-93×2 and 97-92 suggested.

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