Injury ends TJ Doheny’s brave bid to dethrone ‘Monster’ Inoue
TJ Doheny couldn’t quite slay ‘The Monster’ but did prove he wasn’t in any way afraid of the boogeyman with a clever and brave performance in Japan this afternoon.
The Australian-based Irish fighter’s bid to register a historic undisputed super bantamweight world title win was met with stiff resistance by Naoya Inoue.
The two-weight undisputed champion cemented his ‘once in a generation talent’ credentials by stopping the Irish fighter in the seventh round in Japan.
While the power of the pound-for-pound sensation eventually told, it wasn’t the huge one-sided win many predicted. Doheny asked questions of the Japanese star and proved very difficult to work out for the champion. In fact, there was more than an argument to give Doheny some rounds across three to six, before the fight ended in seven.
‘The Power’ earned his shot at greatness thanks to a run of stoppage wins in Japan. His victories over Kazuki Nakajima, Japhethlee Llamido and Bryl Bayogos only added to the degree of respect the Japanese fight fraternity had for the Portlaoise graduate, who won his world title by defeating Ryohei Takahashi in Tokyo.
That in turn led to him securing a tilt at a modern-day great and boxing immortality.
Considering his performance and how he conducted himself in fight week, that respect will remain but Doheny’s undefeated status in Oreint is no more.
It won’t prove any solace for Doheny who travelled to win but being part of an undisputed world title fight and challenging for all the belts at your chosen weight is a massive achievement in itself.
The respect between both power punchers was apparent in the opening three minutes as both were happy to go through the feeling out process. Some backhands down to the body possibly pipping a cautious first round for the home fighter.
Clever feinting from the former world champion had the reigning champion guessing in the second. Neither opened up but there were signs of more adventure. Inoue was pressing the Irish favourite back to the ropes and landed a right hand to the body that was worthy of Doheny’s praise on the bell.
Doheny, 37 continued to show his ring IQ in the third but this time held his feet more and forced Inoue to defend on occasion, ‘The Power’ picking shots around ‘The Monster’s’ guard.
Four backhand lefts landed across the first minute of the fourth saw Doheny grow further in confidence. He was able to set the pace and while Inoue always looked a danger he was becoming a little frustrated.
That frustration manifested in a change of approach in the next session, the Japanese fighter first stood off and invited the Irish fighter on before moving through the gears and looking to bully the 37-year-old. His bodywork looked to be doing damage, although, Doheny never looked too flustered.
Not to mention some cleverly picked body shots and two well-picked backhands had the Irish fighter in with a say for the session.
The pace picked up in the sixth and although Doheny landed some nice combinations, he seemed to be feeling the body shots and was left holding his back by a flurry in the last 10 seconds.
Two more solid body shots delivered in the seventh brought about the end for the Irish fighter. Doheny raised his hand to tell the referee he was hurt and limped to the corner holding his back. It didn’t take the referee long to wave it off and the brave Irish battler was pulled out through injury.
