The news had been anticipated several times in recent months; now the official confirmation has arrived. Naoya “Monster” Inoue will defend his four super bantamweight world titles against the Irish-born Australian TJ “The Power” Doheny. The fight will take place at the Ariake Arena in Koto-Ku (Tokyo) on September 3.
Many fans and several industry experts are raising eyebrows at this announcement. Doheny, at 37 years old and with a less-than-stellar record that already includes four losses, is certainly not the best choice the Japanese Monster could have made to give the public an exciting battle. The general feeling is that Inoue will win this match with extreme ease. While it is undeniably true that no super bantamweight boxer today is on paper capable of troubling the champion, it is equally true that the Uzbek Murodjon Akhmadaliev, both in terms of age and technical characteristics, would have been far more suitable as a challenger.
Among the various fights scheduled for the undercard, the WBO bantamweight world title match between Japanese fighters Yoshiki Takei and Daigo Higa and the Interim WBA super lightweight world title fight between Venezuelan Ismael Barroso and Andy Hiraoka are worth noting.