TJ Doheny, the County Laois-born Australian-based former IBF super bantamweight world champion, collides with Japan’s Naoya “The Monster” Inoue for the now undisputed title, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo next Tuesday, Sept. 3.
The card will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+ starting at 2:30 a.m. ET.
Doheny held the IBF belt from 2018 to 2019. He was a seven-year pro with a 19-0 [14 KO] record when he challenged and upset holder Ryosuke Iwasa in Tokyo to claim the crown. He would defend it once before losing it in a unification match to WBA champion Daniel Roman.
Portlaoise native TJ Doheny is 4-0 on Japanese soil.
The Portlaoise native, who fights out of Bondi Junction, New South Wales, Australia, is nicknamed "Power" for his high knockout record. Currently, 20 of his victories on his 26-4 ledger have come via KOs.
Aged 31, Inoue is six years Doheny’s junior and has a rep as a formidable banger himself with a 27-0 [24 KO] record. A four-division world champion and pound-for-pound contender, “The Monster” has made Ariake Arena his boxing home in recent years and will enter the ring as the firm favorite over the challenger.
Inoue knocked out Paul Butler there to win the undisputed bantamweight world title in December 2022. He then stopped unified super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton in July 2023, and dominated Marlon Tapales over 10 rounds last December to become the undisputed super bantamweight king.
The silver lining for Doheny is that he’s 4-0 when fighting on Japanese soil. This includes the title win over Iwasa in 2018, and last May’s knockout of Bryl Bayogos on the Inoue-Luis Nery undercard at Tokyo Dome.
In the co-feature, WBO bantamweight world champion Yoshiki Takei [9-0, 8 KOs] make his first title defense against former WBC flyweight titlist Daigo Higa [21-2-1, 19 KOs].
'LETHAL' CHALLENGE
Clones transplant “Lethal” Larry Fryers returns to action after a more than a year out with a high profile Top Rank scrap in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 20 against undefeated junior welterweight Emiliano Fernando Vargas.
Scheduled for eight rounds, Vargas-Fryers will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 10:30 p.m. ET. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.
Vargas [11-0, 9 KOs] is the youngest fighting son of former world champion Fernando Vargas and one of prizefighting’s top prospects. Since jumping to junior welterweight, “El General” has scored a pair of knockouts, including June’s first-round destruction of Jose Zaragoza.
Fryers [13-6-1, 5 KOs] has won two straight fights, turning his career around following a six-bout winless streak. He last fought in June 2023, securing a technical decision over Dimash Niyazov, who entered the contest with a 14-1-3 record.
