For as crafty as former titleholder TJ Doheny was in order to stay in the fight on Tuesday morning, the power of undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue eventually caught up to him.
One fight removed from suffering the first knockdown of his career in the early going against Luis Nery, Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) showcased a higher level of patience and defensive responsibility inside Tokyo’s Ariake Arena as the Japanese star took his time breaking Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) down.
Inoue, 31, finally caught up with the experienced southpaw in Round 7 when a hard flurry to the body led to an injury stoppage as the 37-year-old Doheny held his lower back in pain before dropping to a knee. Referee Bence Kovacs waived off the fight at 16 seconds of the round before Doheny needed assistance exiting the ring and went on to limp his way back to the locker room while favoring his right leg.
“I think it was the accumulation [of punches] that got to him,” Inoue said, through an interpreter.
Doheny, a native of Ireland who fights out of Australia, had built a reputation as a menace to Japanese fighters. He captured the IBF title at 122 pounds on Japanese soil in 2018 and entered the Inoue fight fresh off of a rejuvenating stretch over the past year of three knockouts, all in Japan, against fighters with a combined record of 32–1-2.
Inoue had trouble consistently breaking through the defense of Doheny in the early going despite constantly pinning him into the corners of the ring. Some of that was due to Inoue’s cautiousness as the pound-for-pound ranked star who has captured titles in four divisions chose to pick his shots and draw Doheny out.
It wasn’t until Inoue switched into a counterpunching role in Round 4 that Doheny began to be more offensive as he mixed in looping right hooks with a strong commitment to the body. But it appeared as if Inoue was ultimately baiting him to do so in order to loosen up Doheny’s guard and the change in strategy worked as Inoue retook the offensive in Round 6 and began to batter his opponent with lead right hands and hard hooks to the body.
“Tonight, I really wanted to continue my fight one [round] at a time,” Inoue said. “I know boxing is not easy, so I really wanted to slow it down, doing it one at a time, to give my opponent damage.
“This fight did not end the way I expected but I am still in progress. To this match, especially, I want to celebrate how TJ Doheny brought this fight into the ring and, also, to his career. And you can expect more from me in the future.”
Inoue outlanded Doheny by a margin of 93 to 52, according to CompuBox. But it was the percentages at which “The Monster” connected that were the most absurd as Inoue landed 46% of his punches overall and 52% of his power shots.
The victory was Inoue’s ninth straight by knockout and the second defense of his undisputed title at 122 pounds despite not debuting in the division until July 2023.
Bob Arum, the co-promoter of Inoue, entered the ring after the fight and announced that after Inoue returns to the ring once more in Japan to close the year, the Top Rank chairman plans to bring him to Las Vegas in 2025 for what he referred to as “a major celebration.”
