'Monster' Inoue stops Portlaoise's TJ Doheny in world title fight

It is the first time that Doheny has been stooped.

Tue, 03 Sep, 2024 - 13:04

PJ Browne

Naoya Inoue stopped TJ Doheny in the seventh round of their undisputed super-bantamweight world title fight at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.

Twelve seconds into the seventh, Portlaoise man Doheny appeared to indicate he had injured his back and would be unable to continue. "It keeps twinging," Doheny said shortly after he had made his way to Inoue's corner to congratulate his opponent. It was the first time the 37-year-old had been stopped in 31 fights and it was his fifth defeat in total.

Inoue, known as 'Monster', and also as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, remains undefeated. The Japanese boxer is now 28-0 with Tuesday being his 25th stoppage. He is ranked number two in Ring Magazine's Pound for Pound rankings behind heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Doheny, who is based in Australia, boxed smart and awkward in the early rounds, looking especially sharp in the third as he landed some combinations. His movement was slow but active. Inoue was curiously cautious. The crowd at the arena was so quiet that the instructions from Doheny's corner could be clearly heard. They were happy.

IT'S OVER.#InoueDoheny | @NaoyaInoue_410 pic.twitter.com/sftUzaxr3E
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) September 3, 2024

Inoue began to work his way into the fight late in the fourth round, landing jabs and body shots, with Doheny increasingly pushed towards the ropes. By the fifth, Inoue was really starting to dominate though Doheny stayed calm and was still landing punches but not doing as much damage as the champion.

31-year-old Inoue continued to ratchet it up in the sixth. The dynamism of his movement compared to Doheny was obvious, as was the power of his punches. That was especially clear due to the quietness of the crowd. Inoue was slowly beginning to suffocate the Irishman, constantly walking forward.

In the final 10 seconds of the sixth, Inoue did the damage which ultimately ended the fight, landing a series of body shots which hurt Doheny. He walked gingerly back to his corner.

There was no doubt about who was going to win the fight at this stage. It was just a question of whether Doheny could take it the distance. Unfortunately, he could not.

Inoue quickly advanced on Doheny at the beginning of the seventh, moving him towards the ropes before landing three powerful punches. Doheny put his left glove in the air to indicate he was hurt and his right to his back as he limped forward. Referee Bence Kovacs waved the fight off moments later.

"How bad do you want it TJ?" was the shout from the Irish fighter's corner as the bell rang for the start of that last round. He clearly wanted to continue but his body was unable. Even as he sat on his stool, Doheny looked uncomfortable. He limped from the arena with the help of his team.

Doheny had held the IBF super-bantamweight world title for seven months between 2018 and 2019. He won it with a unanimous decision victory over Ryosuke Iwasa in Japan, defended it against Ryohei Takahashi and then lost it to Daniel Roman. Doheny lost three of his next five fights, including one to Michael Conlan, but bounced back by winning the three previous to facing Inoue.

"Probably this fight didn't end the way that you expected," Inoue said.

"I think it was more the accumulation of damage that I gave to him.

"I know boxing is not easy so I really wanted to be slowing down, doing one [round] at a time, giving my opponent damage."

Inoue's promoter Bob Arum said he expects the champion to defend his title in Tokyo again this year before fighting in Las Vegas in 2025.

"You can expect more from me in the future," Inoue said.

"To all the fans around the world, thank you so much for watching this fight. This is not everything that I have, I still have a long way to go.

"I am still in progress and today's match I want to celebrate especially how TJ Doheny brought the fight into this ring and his career."