Naoya Inoue continues to find novel ways to win.
This time the stoppage came due to injury as he forced TJ Doheny to submit early in the seventh round. The combination forced Doheny’s leg to give way as he limped in pain. Referee Bence Kovacs stopped the fight at 0:28 of the seventh round on Tuesday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Inoue (27-0, 24 knockouts) defended his 122-pound world title and won the ESPN+ main event.
There was far less drama than Inoue’s previous defense on May 6 at the Tokyo Dome. He had to survive the first knockdown of his career when Luis Nery floored him in the first round. Inoue was able to recover, knocking Nery down three times en route to a sixth-round knockout.
Nothing approaching the threat of a repeat performance came of this fight. The action was snail-paced from the start. Both fighters landed straight punches in the first round. Inoue consistently slammed Doheny’s (26-5, 20 KO) right glove with his left. Neither fighter landed anything significant in the feel-’em-out round.
Inoue began to pick up the pace in the second round. Doheny was on the defensive, but it proved effective as Inoue was not free in his combinations. The defending champion used constant movement to never allow his left-handed challenger to set up an attack.
Doheny found success with a straight left hook in the third round, his best of the fight up to that point. Inoue was still moving slowly, compared to the explosive performances he had put on in four weight classes. Doheny was looking for opportunities while they still existed, in those moments.
Any momentum Doheny had enjoyed quickly shifted back to Inoue in a robust fourth round. Doheny refused to play the role of the underdog at +2000 (Inoue was a -6500 favorite before the fight). The former IBF 122-pound champion weathered Inoue’s attacks and found space for his left jab both up top and to the body. Inoue’s right jab to the body sent Doheny into the ropes.
A competitive fifth round prompted Inoue to escalate the pressure in the sixth. A swing proved to be the beginning of the end. Doheny’s marked face continued to redden, although he did not come close to touching the mat. Inoue went on the attack and hurt Doheny several times.
The seventh round began with Inoue continuing where he left off in the previous round. A right hook was followed by a combination, including a left hook to the body that caused Doheny’s right leg to snap. He immediately turned around and signaled the referee for the unexpected injury before kneeling. At that point, the fight was immediately stopped.
While it was nothing special, it was still a victory for Inoue, who is now 21-0 in true title fights in four weight classes. He also scored two first-round knockouts in his low stint as the WBA’s secondary bantamweight champion.
It was his ninth fight in a row, including a perfect 4-0 (4 KO) victory at 122.
Perhaps more intriguing are his plans for the future.
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum has already confirmed the rumored news of a third fight this year for Inoue. If confirmed, it would be Inoue’s most dynamic campaign since 2017.
An opponent has not been confirmed, although Australian Sam Goodman has suggested he will be tasked with being the IBF mandatory challenger. Inoue was previously booked to defend his WBA title against Murodjon Akhmadaliev. However, that did not stop his team from handpicking Doheny as his opponent.
Following his victory in December, the plan is to bring Inoue back to the U.S. – though he did not specify in what role.
“I understand he’ll be back here… at the end of the year,” Arum said. “And then we’ll take him to the United States for a massive celebration in Las Vegas.”
Inoue has fought seven consecutive fights in Japan after two fights in Las Vegas during the pandemic.
With Tuesday’s victory, Inoue became just the third boxer to defend the undisputed championship at least twice in the four-belt era. Inoue joins Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Devin Hane on that list. He previously held the Ring and undisputed bantamweight championships. Inoue became the first fully unified 118-pound champion in more than 50 years with his knockout victory over Paul Butler in December 2022.
From there, his 2023 title blitz came. He knocked out unified champions Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales to win all four belts in two fights. The feat saw him join Claressa Shields, Terence Crawford and Katie Taylor as the only undisputed two-division, four-belt champions. Inoue was also honored by The Ring and nearly every other publication as the 2023 Fighter of the Year.
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