Naoya Inoue, the Japanese “Monster”, goes for the absolute reign of super bantamweights against TJ Doheny, the Irishman who feels invincible in the Land of the Sun

Nobody, absolutely nobody. Not the same TJ Doheny not even the most optimistic of his followers. Nobody could imagine a little over a year ago that his bald head and his grim expression would decorate the screens of the stations of the Tokyo subway network these days next to the face of one of the most popular athletes in Japan. But there is the Irishman, waiting for his golden opportunity against one of the best pound-for-pound boxers of today (if not the best), Naoya Inouewhom he will face this Tuesday in the Ariake Arena for the undisputed reign of the super bantamweight division. The fight will begin around 5:45 and will be broadcast on ESPN 2.

The Land of the Rising Sun has been generous to Doheny, whose given name is Terence John, but whom everyone knows as TJ. There, the boxer born in Portlaoise, but who has lived for more than a decade in Bondi Junction, on the outskirts of Sydney (Australia), won the International Boxing Federation super bantamweight title in August 2018when he defeated Ryosuke Iwasa on points. With that triumph, he became the second Irishman to establish himself in Japanese territoryafter Wayne McCullough, who had won the World Boxing Council bantamweight championship in June 1995 by dethroning Yasuei Yakushiji.

There he also resurrected a career that seemed dead. Already without his crown (he had given it up in April 2019 to Californian Daniel Román), the southpaw lost three of the four fights he starred in between March 2020 and March 2023, including one against Michael Conlan in Belfast for the interim title. featherweight of the World Boxing Association (that was his only fight on Irish soil), and His chances of reintegration into the big billboards ranged from few to very few.. But Hideyuki Ohashi, the strongman of Japanese boxing, opened a door for him and Doheny was dispatched with three knockouts in Tokyo in the last 14 months. With this he earned this opportunity as coveted as it was risky.

The 37-year-old Irishman clings to his undefeated streak in a very difficult country for visiting fighters, who finished the four fights he lost on his feet, despite being knocked down by Román and Conlan. And also to the power of his left hand: He achieved 20 of his 26 victories by fast track. “I represent a different challenge for Inoue. His last two rivals were southpaws, but they were career bantamweights. I am a racing super bantamweight and I am big and strong for the category. “I will bring those attributes to the ring,” the candidate promised.

A priori, these arguments do not seem enough to put many beans in the visitor’s basket. Knockouts and stylists of different sizes and different qualities have tried to break Inoue’s undefeated record and they have all ended the same way: defeated. And not only that: 24 of the 27 victories of the star born in Zama and based in Yokohama were on the fast track. The last man to hear the judges’ decision was the Filipino Nonito Donaire in November 2019, in his first attempt against the Japanese (in the rematch, in June 2022, he suffered a lapidary knockout in the second round).

In the brilliant resume of the former light fly, super fly and bantamweight monarch, a small stain was drawn in his last presentation, on May 6 at the Tokyo Dome: Mexican Luis Nery knocked him down in the first round. Inoue recovered and dispatched the Tijuana native in the sixth inning, but that was the first fall he suffered in his career. Doheny also clings to that recent precedent, who watched that fight from ring side, because a while before, on the same evening, he had knocked out the Filipino Bryl Bayogos.

“The conclusion I drew was that, after all, (Inoue) is a human being. Nobody is perfect, anyone can be brought down. I will go into the ring to look for the knockout, just like him, but I will do it intelligently. “I’m not going to blindly go out with everything, that’s not the way things are going to work,” the Irishman explained.

Despite the unanimous favoritism that has accompanied him since this race was announced, Inoue is not confident and has prepared hard for the second defense of his four super bantamweight crowns. With oppressive temperatures, which have long exceeded 30° every day since the beginning of the month in Tokyo, he performed around 100 rounds of sparring with four Mexican fighters. “I am proud to say that I trained harder than ever in my career.“, said the champion, who highlighted his rival’s punch: “Doheny does not want to win by decision. That’s why I have to be careful, be alert. AND I have to knock him out. That’s the only thing I have in mind for this fight.”.

If the forecasts do not fly into the air on Tuesday and the 16,500 spectators who will pack the Ariake Arena end the evening celebrating the 28th consecutive victory of their monarch, the Monsterwho announced two months ago that he planned to have four or five more fights in the super bantamweight division, will have two paths to follow: the one his team projects and the one intended by a potential opponent who has been waiting his turn for a long time.

The chance that appears clearest on the horizon is a confrontation with the undefeated Australian Sam Goodman (he has a record of 19-0), first in the rankings of the IBF and the World Boxing Organization. However, Inoue has a pending mandatory defense against the Uzbek Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1), number one in the WBA rankings, which he has so far postponed with the approval of that organization. Surely after Tuesday, if the Japanese man fulfills his part, his handlers will begin to outline the next step.