The ‘Monster’ Keeps on Trucking: Inoue Stops Doheny in the 7th Round

Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, a massive favorite, improved his ledger to 28-0 (25 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of TJ Doheny tonight at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The match was terminated after only 16 seconds of the seventh round after Doheny twisted his ankle and seemingly hurt his back after absorbing several seemingly ineffectual body punches from the Japanese “Monster.”

Doheny (26-5) earned this assignment with three straight wins in Tokyo rings against opponents who were collectively 32-1-2. He won all three fights inside the distance. The 37-year-old Irish-Australian globetrotter was a former IBF super bantamweight title-holder, having stripped the belt from a Japanese title-holder at Tokyo’s venerable Korakuen Hall.

Inoue controlled the action but Doheny stayed out of harm’s way until the sixth frame when Inoue turned up the heat. When the round ended, one could see that Doheny had scant chance of lasting the distance. The circumstances of the stoppage, however, were bizarre. Although Doheny was on his feet when the fight ended, he was limping and would need to be assisted from the ring by his cornermen.

After the match, Inoue’s U.S. representative Bob Arum said that the pound-for-pound superstar would fight again in Tokyo in December (big boxing shows on New Year’s Eve have become a Japanese tradition) and then return to Las Vegas in 2025 where he is 2-0, stopping Jason Moloney in 2020 and demolishing the overmatched Filipino Michael Dasmarinas in 2021. Arum’s company also co-promotes Inoue’s countryman Junto Nakatani. An Inoue-Nakatani match would be a pay-per-view attraction no matter the locale.

Co-Feature

In an entertaining match, Yoshiki Takai started strong and finished with a flourish to nip Daigo Higa. The victorious Takai, a 28-year-old Yokohama southpaw, improved to 10-0 (8) in his first defense of the WBO world bantamweight title he won from Jason Moloney at the Tokyo Dome. The judges had it 115-112 and 114-113 twice.

Takai, a former champion kickboxer, was in serious jeopardy of losing his belt after Higa scored a controversial flash knockdown in the 11^th frame, a knockdown that could have easily been ruled a slip. But in the final round he battered Higa around the ring, nearly taking the fight out of the judges’ hands. Higa, considered the next superstar of Japanese boxing after beginning his career with 15 straight knockouts, declined to 21-3-1.

Also

In a battle of southpaws, Yokohama’s Andy Hiraoka (24-0, 19 KOs) dominated and stopped Ismael Barroso whose corner stopped the one-sided contest with two seconds remaining in the ninth round. Hiraoka, who is Ghanaian on his father’s side, was a 6/1 favorite over the Miami-based Venezuelan Methuselah (Barroso is listed at 41 but looks much older) who was coming off a shocking first-round stoppage of Ohara Davies in Las Vegas.

Hiraoka had Barroso (25-5-2) on the canvas in the sixth and twice more in the ninth before the match was halted.

With the victory, Hiraoka becomes the mandatory opponent for Jose Valenzuela who recently captured the WBA version of the 140-pound belt with a unanimous decision over Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in one of the bigger upsets of 2024.

In a welterweight contest slated for 12, Jin Sasaki (18-1-1, 17 KOs) bloodied and stopped game but outclassed Qamil Balla who was rescued by the referee at the 52-second mark of round seven. A 35-year-old Australian of Albanian stock, Balla was 15-1-1 heading in with his lone setback coming at the hands of George Kambosos Jr.

Super bantamweight Tohiki Shimomachi won a 10-round unanimous decision over Ryuya Tsugama. Unbeaten in his last 20 fights, Shimomachi advanced to 19-1-3 over his 24-year-old opponent who had won nine straight heading in but was competing in his first 10-rounder. Both boxers hail from Osaka.

Photo credit: Naomi Fukuda

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