BoxRec

Naoya Inoue will defend his undisputed junior featherweight championship vs. TJ Doheny in September in Tokyo, sources tell ESPN. Inoue, ESPN’s No. 3 p4p boxer, will make the second defense of all four 122-pound titles. Doheny has won three consecutive fights, all in Japan.

Mike Coppenger.

Naoya Inoue vs TJ Doheny official for September 3rd in Tokyo

Yoshiki Takei vs Daigo Higa and Ismael Barroso vs Andy Hiraoka are also on tap

Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue is officially set to meet TJ Doheny atop a September 3rd title tripleheader at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.

It’s worth noting that the announcement claims Inoue (27-0, 24 KO) will defend all four of his titles, meaning the WBA has not acted on its outstanding order that Inoue face Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

As mentioned before, Doheny (26-4, 20 KO) is a familiar face to the Japanese audience, having fought his last three in the Land of the Rising Sun. He’s also 37 years old and entered that three-fight run on a 2-4 skid, making him far more financially appealing than competitively appealing for “The Monster.”

In other championship action, WBO bantamweight champion Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KO) will make his inaugural defense against former flyweight titlist Daigo Higa (21-2-1, 19 KO). Takei is coming off an entertaining decision win over Jason Moloney that saw him survive near-disaster in the final round, while Higa is 6-1-1 since the JBC forced him up to 118 following his weight miss against Cristofer Rosales, including a well-aged loss to future champ Ryosuke Nishida and a draw with current contender and potential title challenger Seiya Tsutsumi.

With Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz due to fight Jose Valenzuela on August 3rd, interim WBA super lightweight champion Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KO) will make his first appearance since January opposite Andy Hiraoka (23-0, 18 KO). This is an incredibly overdue step up for Hiraoka after his 2021 knockout of Jin Sasaki (17-1-1, 16 KO), who also sees action against Qamil Balla (15-1-1, 8 KO)

Doheny has been given a raw deal in some fights. Believe it or not I thought he might have deserved the decision in the Conlan fight. He's kept it tight in most of his losses but I'm afraid he is going to get blasted to the canvas here. I like the style matchup for Inoue and his explosive leather down the middle should be a big issue for TJ, who is operating out of the southpaw stance. TJ needs to get his respect early and land his own straight left with good exits. Put it on Inoue if Inoue starts getting smart but that's a big ask indeed. A lot of Inoues opponents seem to come into the fight very intimidated. Jamie McDonnell was a smart operator but was looking for the nearest exit as soon as the first punches landed.

Team Inoue all the way! I've been following his career closely,Buckshot Roulette and I'm confident he’ll take this one. September 3rd is going to be an electrifying night.

Inoue should roll the dice afterwards and fight Nick Ball next.

TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑16 Jul 2024, 09:05 Doheny has been given a raw deal in some fights. Believe it or not I thought he might have deserved the decision in the Conlan fight. He's kept it tight in most of his losses but I'm afraid he is going to get blasted to the canvas here. I like the style matchup for Inoue and his explosive leather down the middle should be a big issue for TJ, who is operating out of the southpaw stance. TJ needs to get his respect early and land his own straight left with good exits. Put it on Inoue if Inoue starts getting smart but that's a big ask indeed. A lot of Inoues opponents seem to come into the fight very intimidated. Jamie McDonnell was a smart operator but was looking for the nearest exit as soon as the first punches landed.

Didn’t Doheny get beaten by Ionut Baluta? Inoue will destroy him

TJ DOHENY PREPARES STRATEGY TO SLAY ‘THE MONSTER’ FOR UNDISPUTED CHAMPIONSHIP

It wasn’t that long ago that TJ Doheny’s career appeared to be on the skids.

Rising star Sam Goodman had beaten him on points, adding his name to Michael Conlan, Ionut Baluta and Daniel Roman as boxers who had defeated Doheny during a span of four years. The way back to the top looked like a long and windy road.

That was in March of last year. Fast-forward to today and Doheny is less than a month out from challenging Ring Magazine and undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs), who he will face at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, on September 3.

So how did Doheny manage to turn his career around?

Tomorrow!

the undercard is good at least. still baffled at inoue fighting doheny though. i was ho hum on inoue fighting goodman (at least he's an unbeaten mandatory i guess), and here they go with a guy beaten widely by goodman. did any fans want this or really even bother to think of doheny when it came to picking inoues next fights? if a big fight was coming next okay fine, but bobfather says goodman is most likely after this in december

inoue has so consistently fought top opponents and challenged himself, that you dont like to criticize, but making fights pretty much no one wants to see, when he's at the peak of his stardom, is a momentum killer.

goodman + MJ or casimero woulda been much better to close the year

How many rounds will Doheny last is the question!? Can he last 3? 6? More?

Doheny out like a light within 4

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑02 Sep 2024, 03:29 the undercard is good at least. still baffled at inoue fighting doheny though. i was ho hum on inoue fighting goodman (at least he's an unbeaten mandatory i guess), and here they go with a guy beaten widely by goodman. did any fans want this or really even bother to think of doheny when it came to picking inoues next fights? if a big fight was coming next okay fine, but bobfather says goodman is most likely after this in december

inoue has so consistently fought top opponents and challenged himself, that you dont like to criticize, but making fights pretty much no one wants to see, when he's at the peak of his stardom, is a momentum killer.

goodman + MJ or casimero woulda been much better to close the year

This is obviously a Bob Arum matchup. Hopefully we shouldn't expect to see more of this.

Date: Tuesday September 3, 2024
Location: Ariake Arena - Koto City, Tokyo, Japan
TV/Stream: ESPN

Start Times
ESPN+: (Preliminary Card)
ESPN+: 5:45 am ET | 2:45 am PT | 6:45 pm local (Main Card)
Sky Sports: 7:30 am BST (Main Card)

Promoted by: Top Rank Inc. featuring Ohashi Promotions and Teiken Promotions

Fight Card

Undisputed Super Bantamweight Championship
Naoya Inoue vs. TJ Doheny

WBO Bantamweight Championship
Yoshiki Takei vs. Daigo Higa

Interim WBA Super Lightweight Championship
Ismael Barroso vs. Andy Hiraoka

WBO APAC Welterweight Championship
Jin Sasaki vs. Qamil Balla

Japanese Super Bantamweight Championship
Toshiki Shimomachi vs. Ryuya Tsugawa

Qamil down heavily in the 3rd, looked over but up he gets and fires back bravely, lands some heavy shots himself

Trying to work out what happened to Barroso’s so-called world title on the boxrec schedule, but see they sensibly don’t bother listing it as a real title fight

The very brave Aussie is floored and stopped in the seventh

MightyWarrior wrote: ↑03 Sep 2024, 04:15 The very brave Aussie is floored and stopped in the seventh

i thought i missed the main event when you said Aussie.

Glad im off this week. can watch it in UHD instead of on the phone.

Oh yeah, the main event Aussie i reckon is gonna be on around midday.

Barroso doing his crafty routine of lulling his opponent to sleep before actually putting him to sleep, as Chris algeri accurately puts it

Andy obviously been watching the Ohara Davis fight because even when he shakes up Ismael he stays ultra cautious

TJ looks a bit like Scott Harrison, the mad Scotsman would’ve given the monster a good fight, had a good chin on him

Jab working well for Hiraoka here.

Dumb ref, obvious Ismael had enough after 2 knockdowns but clueless ref fails to see this. As does equally daft commentator Christine poncher

Barroso’s corner pulled him out at the end of R9 after receiving sustained punishment and suffering two knockdowns, nice disciplined performance from Hiraoka there I thought.

So weird to watch major boxing in the morning

Co-main is a cracker so far!

Damn!
Just what you expect from two guys with a ~90% ko percentage.