Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) stopped a very nice TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) in the seventh round on Tuesday night at the Ariake Arena, Tokyo, Japan.
The 37-year-old Irish native Doheny suddenly started in the seventh round due to a lower back injury. At the stoppage, Doheny leaned back against the ropes, using his ostrich-style defense, which put stress on his back.
A less than convincing victory
Doheny suddenly stopped and limped around the ring clutching his lower back. It wasn’t much of a fight. The time of the stoppage was at 0:16 of round seven.
After a slow start, the bigger fighter, Doheny, was on the attack in rounds five and six, lighting Inoue up with shots and finding it surprisingly easy to hit him. The southpaw Doheny caught Inoue at will with left hands thrown straight down the pipe, and it looked so easy.
The Japanese star tried to use some head movement, but it wasn’t nearly enough to avoid being nailed by Doheny’s left hands.
‘Monster’ Inoue’s offense was his defense in the fifth and sixth rounds, as he was forced to veer away from his usual single-shot offense to throw more punches, and he barely got the win from Doheny.
What made Inoue’s life easier in the fifth and sixth was Doheny’s foolish move to back up to the corner and fight from that vantage point. It was an amateur move, and Doheny should have known better because he was at his best in the center of the ring, attacking the very presentable Inoue.
Questionable tactics
One thing that annoyed Dohoney was that Inoue beat him in a few rounds after the bell. He was seen complaining about it, but it didn’t change Inoue’s habits. The Japanese star needed every advantage he could get tonight as he looked average.
Inoue, 31, loaded up on singles throughout the seven-round bout, not throwing many punches and never landing combinations. He seemed to assume he would score a one-punch knockout as he had already fought in the 108, 112, 115 and 118 lb weight classes.
Inoue’s power was more formidable fighting in those divisions than it is at 122, and he picked up some bad habits by loading up on single shots that now make his fights more complicated at super bantamweight.
A faded “monster”?
Tonight’s Inoue-Doheny fight showed that Inoue is not the same fighter he once was in the lower weight classes; he’s old, losing hand speed, and isn’t the one-punch KO artist he was in the past. This may explain Inoue’s reluctance to move up to featherweight (126).
If Inoue moves up to 126, the killers—Bruce Carrington, Angelo Leo, Rafael Espinoza, Rey Vargas, Robeisy Ramirez, Nick Ball and Brandon Figueroa—will beat him badly.
All seven of those fighters will beat ‘Monster’ Inoue and make it look easy. I doubt Inoue will move up to 126 because he knows he will be overmatched against those talented fighters.
Rather, he plays it safe, fights in the dead 122-lb division, earns a nice living in Tokyo, Japan, and beats the lesser fighters in this weight class. It’s much safer for Inoue at super bantamweight than to go up to 126 and have the living daylights beaten out of him by Carrington, Leo, Espinoza, Robeisy and Ball. Those guys are way better than Inoue.
I don’t blame Inoue. He’s got a good one, makes millions in Japan, beats old scrubs like we saw tonight, and doesn’t have to deal with fighters who will tear him apart at featherweight. I would have done the same thing if I were Inoue. Take the easy money against the lesser fighters at 122 and avoid risks.
Inoue’s future at featherweight
If Inoue moves up to 126, he won’t last a minute once he gets into the main population in this division. He will no longer be protected and will be among the murderers. What we saw tonight is Inoue is a hype job and not the fighter the naive fans thought.
He’s a one-trick pony who has come across as being more powerful than the lesser opposition in the lower weight classes, but he’s now exposed at 122, and it will get a lot worse for him if he moves up to 126.
Inoue will be put under a microscope at featherweight, showing all his flaws and foibles for the fans to see if he chooses to step out of his comfort zone and move up to featherweight to take on the talents in that well-stocked division .
 stopped a very old-looking TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KOs) in the seventh round on Tuesday night at){kind=link}