Naoya Inoue is not interested in moving up to 126 following his seventh round knockout of TJ Doheny on Tuesday night at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) makes his second defense of his undisputed super bantamweight title against 37-year-old Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs), whose back gave out in the seventh round. It wasn’t what Inoue did that ended the fight.
Is Inoue avoiding tougher fights?
Doheny’s back couldn’t handle all the leaning he did to avoid Inoue’s punches and ended up freezing on him. After the fight, it was learned that Inoue (31) will remain at 122 and plans to defend against his IBF mandatory Sam Goodman on December 24 in Tokyo.’
When you see Inoue fight guys like Doheny and Luis Nery and target the light-hitting Goodman, it’s hard not to conclude that he avoids the tougher fights. If Inoue was interested in fighting tough guys, he would have already moved up to 126 earlier this year, and he would have no intention of fighting Goodman.
“You call him ‘The Monster,’ and you anoint him as this mythological person, and then you expect him to go up in weight and fight everybody all the time,” commentator Chris Algieri told Inside Boxing Live YouTube channel, talking about Naoya Inoue looking human in his fight against TJ Doheny on Tuesday night.
Inoue only moved up four times in weight, and he is now where he should have been from the beginning of his career. He is always big for the 112-, 115- and 118-lb divisions. He now fights guys his size at 122, but the division is so extremely barren that Inoue has to move up to 126.
The Fear Factor
All the talented fighters are in that weight class because there is no point in fighting at 122. After all, the only guy there worth fighting is Inoue. He won’t fight them because he’s too busy being selective.
“It’s always: ‘What’s next? Move up to 126.’ Guys, he’s human. He fights at 122. He’s undersized; he’s a smaller guy. This is his fourth, and he’s still stopping all these guys. For the length of his career, moving up and fighting bigger guys with more experience, but he still stops them,” Algieri said.
Fans want to see Inoue move up to 126 because that’s where all the talented fighters are. If the 122-lb division was as well stocked with quality fighters as the 126-lb division, fans wouldn’t blame Inoue for moving up. 122 is filled with older fighters, and fans want Inoue to move up to 126, where he will have an endless supply of great fights.
“Granted, he doesn’t cut guys down with one-punch KOs like he did at 118 and 115, but he’s human,” Algieri continued of Inoue. “He’s going to refuse. He is 31 years old. He says he wants to do two more years at this weight class (122).
What is Algieri talking about? Inoue is already showing a decline in the power and hand speed department. We saw this in his fights against Doheny, Marlon Tapales and Luis Nery. Like many fighters who slow down when they reach their 30s, Inoue is starting to show signs of slowing down, and that is age. Inoue’s fans may not like to hear this, but they need to face the truth.
‘Monster’ Inoue is getting old and ready to be beaten. That’s why he doesn’t yet show interest in fighting Murodjon Akhmadaliev or moving up to fight young lion Bruce Carrington, who is waiting to devour him at 126.
That’s why Inoue is opting to stay at 122, choosing light puncher Sam Goodman for his next fight on December 24th. Inoue is no longer willing to take risks. Fear stepped in and got Inoue in its clutches. He can’t break free and doesn’t even try. It will take an electric jolt to move Naoya out of his hunger to face talents like Murodjon and Carrington.
Questioning His own abilities
“I always say, ’33 is that magic number.’ 33 is when guys really start to dip. Inoue has a few years left. I saw an interview on ESPN about what he’s going to do next, and he questioned his own ability to move up (to 126). I’ve never heard him do that in an interview,” Algieri said.
Inoue’s supposed comment questioning his ability to move up could explain his reluctance to move up to 126 after achieving his goal of becoming the undisputed super bantamweight champion with his win over Marlon Tapales last December. Fans expected Inoue to move up to featherweight after the win, but he didn’t. Instead, he stayed at 122 and fought Luis Nery and Doheny.
Giving fans what they want?
“So, I think that’s really indicative, and I think it points to 122. You see these guys. They’re just bigger people than him. These fans that knock him for being human. It’s crazy. You have to watch looking at his career in totality and understanding that he’s giving fans what they want by fighting tougher challenges in bigger weight classes,” Algieri said of Inoue.
Fans won’t agree with Algieri’s comment about Inoue giving them the fights they want in bigger weight classes because they didn’t want him fighting washed-up Luis Nery or TJ Doheny. These were Inoue’s babies. He wanted those fights, not the fans.
Fans wanted Inoue to fight these fighters:
- Murodjon Akhmadaliev
- Bruce Carrington
- Rafael Espinoza
- Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez
- Gervonta Davis
- Nick Ball
