Naoya Inoue vs TJ Doheny

Naoya Inoue defends undisputed super-bantamweight championship to TJ Doheny

The Daunting Prospect of Transforming TJ into TC, by James Blears

Australia based Irishman TJ Doheny challenges undisputed and undefeated super-bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena on September 3rd, live on Sky Sports in the UK and ESPN in the U.S.

It is an exceptionally, exceedingly difficult prospect. Naoya has KO’d his last eight opponents. He’s won all of his twenty-two world championship bouts. He’s won world titles in four weight categories and twenty four of his twenty-seven bouts by fast track. Aged thirty- one, he’s six years younger than the man from Portlaoise, Ireland. But…Terence John possesses several key resources and factors upon which he can and must draw.

Naoya has built an 88.89 percent KO percentage. But southpaw TJ’s 26-4, 20 KO’s tangibly show that he’s is slouch either, as his KO radio is 76.92 percent. He himself carries tasty and salty KO power in either hand and he’s never been stopped. He won the IBF super-bantamweight title defeating Ryosuke Iwasa by UD and successfully defended once, before losing in a unification via MD, to WBA champion Daniel Roman. Following his UD loss to Sam Goodman in Sydney, he’s notched three consecutive victories in Japan. Although he’s fought sixteen times in his adopted Australia, he’s no stranger to the Land of the Rising sun.

If he’s to defeat the mighty and formidable Naoya, more likely than not, it would have to be early on. This is when opportunity might knock? It seems to be ‘’Monster’s’’ one and only vulnerability and flaw.

In their first titanic fight, Nonito Donaire caught Naoya momentarily napping in round two, with a crunching left hook to the face. That one punch wrought and rendered near havoc. It broke his nose, fractured his right orbital bone and cut him over his right eye. For the rest of the fight Naoya was seeing double and as such was at a disadvantage. Yet, he it speaks volumes about him that he overcame this, to dominate from round five onwards, stunning Nonito with a flush right hook to the jaw and increasingly dominating.

It almost ended in round eleven of their thrilling World Boxing Super Series bantamweight Final, when Naoya pinpoint left hook to Nonito’s liver. The Old Master doubled up in agony, but was wily enough to scuttle crab like to an open space across the ring and then go down on his haunches. Somehow, he bravely got up, but from then to the final bell he was in survival mode. The rematch was a second round blow out. Naoya was in no mood to drag it out and expose himself to more heavy- handed risks.

In his most recent super-bantamweight undisputed title defence against Tijuana’s Luis Nery, Naoya was again surprised early, this time in round one, with a crunching left hook, after momentarily dropping his hands. It put him down hard, but he remained clear eyed, clear headed and alert and he got up!

‘’The Monster’’ is not infallible, but on a scale of one to ten he obtains top marks, being able to adapt, pull out and summon up and assimilate sheer brilliance at the drop of a hat, accelerating into top gear in the blink of an eye, when confronted by adversity and its accompanying temporary setbacks. This tenacious ingenuity is assuredly one of the definitions of all time greatness.

He swiftly returned the compliment in round two of the fray and with interest, via his own potent left hook and yet again with a left in round five. The bell saved Nery, but not for long. In round six a right uppercut stunned him and then an even harder right hook decked him. It was all over.

Prior to this Naoya became the second four belt undisputed champion by stopping tough and resourceful Filipino southpaw Marlon Tapales. Marlon was WBA and IBF super-bantamweight champion. Naoya had won the WBC and WBO belts by TKO’ing the talented Stephen Fulton in eight rounds.