Not Afraid of the Monster – TJ Doheny promises Naoya Inoue WAR – Confirmation Incoming
TJ Doheny says he won’t hide from the Monster if, as he expected, he fights Naoya Inoue in September.
As a highly ranked form Japanese favourite, Doheny looks set to win the race to fight the undisputed super bantamweight world champion.
Top Rank boss Bob Arum has said the 37-year-old is next in line and that the next stage of the Laois native’s Indian Summer will play out in Japan on September 9.
It’s understood confirmation is incoming and if, again as expected, the former IBF world champion is handed a massive fight with the man from the Land of the Rising Sun, he says he won’t shy away from a fight.
‘The Power’ promises a power play and says he would test the chin pound-for-pound star, who often scares opponents into a defensive shell.
“[We are] the two hardest punchers with the most exciting styles left in the division,” Doheny said. “[I] can only predict a war.
“You won’t see me fightin’ scared in there like all those other wage thieves,” he adds before saying he will evoke the Japanese warrior spirit against the Japanese hero.
“I will put it all on the line for the Japanese fans! I’m coming with Yamato Damashii.”
Doheny made four wins from four fights in Japan by stopping Bryl Bayogos in the Tokyo Dome earlier this year.
That win was earned on the undercard of Inoue’s dramatic stoppage win over Luis Nery. Interestingly, if Nery hadn’t made weight or was forced to pull out for any reason the Australian-based Portlaoise native would have have stepped in.
He says the possibility of challenging for all four of ‘The Monster’s’ titles wasn’t a distraction in the build-up to his own fight and points out he would have been ready for the world champion if the chance arose.
“It wasn’t a distraction in any sense,” he tells Irish-boxing.com
“I went over there fully prepared to do a job on whoever it may have been in the ring with me that night. Inoue would have brought a lot more gears out of me as he is a much higher calibre fighter and that’s what brings the best out of me.”
