‘Monster ‘Inoue’ will ignore mandatory ruling to fight ‘big draw’ TJ Doheny
TJ Doheny will be handed the chance to become Ireland’s first male undisputed champion on September 9 according to Bob Arum.
The veteran American promoter has suggested ‘The Power’ is in pole position to fight pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue since they shared the same card earlier this year.
Irish-boxing.com understood the Top Rank boss wanted to make a fight between the ‘Rockstar of the Orient’ and the undisputed super bantamweight world champion in September with hopes of making Inoue versus Ben Goodman in December.
Fears for the first part of that plan emerged this week when the WBA called for Inoue to fight No. 1 contender and former unified 122-pound champion Murodjon “M.J.” Akhmadaliev.
However, Arum says the Japanese will ignore the WBA order and go ahead with a plot to fight the former IBF super bantamweight world champion on September 9.
It also appears Inoue won’t be fighting in Wembley or Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season, with Arum wanting to bring Doheny to Japan, a country he is unbeaten in and where he is a respected name.
“[Doheny] has become a big, big draw over there, and that matters,” Arum said. “Look at what Luis Nery did as the bad boy [following a positive PED test], helping sell out the Tokyo Dome.
“Worse comes to worst, [Inoue] loses the WBA title … and that’s a ‘who cares?’ anyway, because the plan is for [Inoue] to fight at 122 this year and then move to 126 [featherweight] next year.”
