The monster Naoya Inoue successfully defends his undisputed super bantamweight championship. He dispatched the challenger TJ Doheny in 7 rounds after a tentative tricky start. Inoue gradually found his rhythm and by round 7 he began landing cleaner and put Doheny down with a body shot and Doheny seemingly acquiring a back injury. Although this figh or finish wasn’t as spectacular as his recent fights Inoue still got the job done.
Inoue vs Doheny
The early rounds saw quite a tentative start from Naoya Inoue. This may have have been a result from the Nery fight where Inoue was being rather reckless ad as a result got knocked down early. And, Inoue ever looking to improve may have learned from that mistake. As a result the first round saw Inoue just stalk Doheny. Although, he did start to land the first of many body shots.
Round 2 was quite similair with Inoue landing a few fight hands to the body following Doheny around the ring. Doheny was eventually corned by the end of the round and Inoue landing a 3 punch combo.
Round 3 saw Doheny start to have some success landing shots. Earlier he was only really avoiding Inoue’s shots and utilising feints but he finally started throwing. Doheny was able to land some hooks to Inoue body and a combo up stairs but that mainly landed on the gloves. Inoue was still able to find the right hand to the body and an overhand right.
Round 4 Inoue continued to target the body with the right hand an jab up top. He landed a 2-1 combo going to the body with the right hand then a jab to the head. Doheny was able to land a few left hands but they had little impact. Inoue was also persistent with his jab and landed a decent left hook on Doheny.
Round 5 saw Inoue try a change of strategy letting Doheny come forward for a bit to try and time him coming in. However, Doheny didn’t really commit to any forward attacks. As the round went on Inoue started to pressure with more intensity throwing more ending the round with a flurry of body punches.
The Finishing Sequence
By round 6 Doheny started to be quite marked up on his face with swelling. And round 6 was really the beginning of the end for Doheny. Inoue carried the momentum he started in round 5 into round 6 and kept firing shots. Inoue was able to land uppercuts, right hooks to the body, left hands and of course the right to the body. Doheny after a few more right hands to the body was lowering his hands allowing Inoue to land an overhand right. And towards the end of the round Inoue had Doheny pinned to the ropes ripping to the body.
Inoue then got the job done early in round 7 jumping on Doheny. Inoue landed another straight right to the body causing Doheny hold his back turn away and take a knee not wanting to continue. And so Inoue got the tko. After the fight was over Doheny continued to hold his back and needed assistance to walk from the ring. So Inoue may have been able to hurt Doheny’s back through the body shots which wouldn’t be suprising given the power he posses.
Naoya Inoue continues his successful reign at super bantamweight and remains undefeated. As for what’s next it’s up to Inoue he could keep defending his belts or he could try moving up to 126lbs. Staying at 122lbs Inoue will likely continue to notch defences into his resume. And so, moving up to 126lbs could be the next move for Inoue.
There’s not really anyone left at 122lbs to challenge Inoue. He has his mandatory Sam Goodman but that’s it really. If he wants to keep his belts he’ll have to defend against Goodman. 126lbs would present a new set of challenges and champions to beat. Whatever Naoya Inoue chooses to do next we’ll be watching.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
