Naoya Inoue weighed in at 122 pounds, while his opponent, TJ Doheny, came in at 121.5 pounds at Monday’s weigh-in for their showdown on Tuesday night, September 3, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) made a mistake by choosing to stay at 122 and defend his undisputed super bantamweight title against the soon-to-be 38-year-old Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) because there are many little interest in this mismatch.
Fans are tired of Inoue’s “safe” matches
There isn’t much fan interest in the United States for the Inoue vs. Doheny fight for obvious reasons, as it’s seen as another example of Naoya’s reluctance to step it up against talented opposition.
Fans in the US grew tired of watching Inoue face less opposition. They see Naoya as a fighter who is carefully matched and kept away from the killers at 126, who would end his reign.
In other words, Inoue is propped up with matchups, keeping him in a dead division safe from the team sharks in the 126-lb division who would see the Japanese star as food.
Old grizzled veteran TJ Doheny has done nothing to judge a world title except be three cans of tomatoes to revive his career.
Doheny is considered a washed-up fighter who has been in sharp decline for four years since 2020. Fans don’t understand why Inoue is fighting the 37-year-old Doheny rather than moving up to featherweight (126) to test himself against the killers in that weight class.
Some fans believe that Naoya Inoue is afraid to move up to 126 to fight these talented fighters:
- Bruce Carrington
- Rafael Espinoza
- Angelo Leo
- King Vargas
- Nick Ball
- Robey Ramirez
- Brandon Figueroa
Things will be very different for the 31-year-old ‘Monster’ Inoue at featherweight if he moves up from the safety of the super bantamweight division, which is well stocked with limited, easy-to-mark fighters who are not a threat to the Japanese star.
A fight without meaning
Irish native TJ Doheny has lost three out of four fights from 2020 to 2023, and the only way he’s pulled out of this downward spiral is due to the poor matchmaking his management has done for him, feeding him these three fighters have:
– Bryl Bayogos
– Japhethlee Llamido
– Kazuki Nakajima
If the idea is for Inoue to avenge the losses of his countrymen by beating Doheny for revenge, it’s a waste of his career. Those guys who beat Doheny will lose to anyone in the top 50, and unfortunately his management decided to match him up against those types of fighters to keep his sinking career above the waterline.
