‘I need to prove that I’m still the same fighter’ – TJ Doheny determined to prove shock defeat was a blip

TJ Doheny [22(16)-2(0)] is eager to put a ‘silly loss’ behind him and show the world he is a world class fighter.

‘The Power’ suffered shock defeat in Dubai last time out and is now keen to make amends.

The former world champion was out pointed by the relatively unknown Spanish based Romanian Ionut Baluta [13(2)-2(0)] in what was meant to be a sturdy keep busy fight.

The super bantamweight southpaw seems as embarrassed as frustrated by the reverse and has vowed to bounce back and show people his true capabilities.

“It’s all about coming back and winning – winning impressively. A silly loss like that, even if it’s horrible on my record, you can never take it back. Just get a win and once I get it, I have to show to them the true calibre of a boxer I am,” Doheny told IFL TV before suggesting his has to come back with a bang.

“It’s not that I needed to be humbled but that had me thinking. I’ve got to win impressively and show that loss in March is just kind of a speed bump for me.”

Prior to his second career defeat Doheny had being talking about a mega fights with fellow Matchroom fighters Danny Roman – a former foe – and the American’s defeater, now unified world champ Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

The Boston trained fighter believes the aforementioned are still attainable and suggests if he performs to his best he can return to big fight conversation.

“Everybody knows what I can do. I need to prove that I’m still the same fighter that I was. I just switched off in that fight and didn’t put in the performance that I can do. I have one hundred percent faith in MTK Global that they can get me back in the mix.”

“It’s no secret that they’re one of the best management teams in the world and they know how to help me come back from this kind of thing and re-position me in everything. They know how to manoeuvre once the sport comes back,” he adds before stressing he is training at home.

“I’ve been able to set up a gym in the garage so I’m still able to keep myself in pretty respectable shape. I’ve been training more just to keep myself busy, keep the mind occupied from all these things and trying to keep everything good.”