Tale of the tapeHere’s a look at how Inoue and Doheny measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. The challenger has marginal half-inch advantages in height in reach. Both made the super bantamweight divisional limit of 122lbs at yesterday’s official weigh-in.
Naoya Inoue v TJ DohenyKey events
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PreambleHello and welcome to the undisputed super bantamweight championship fight between Naoya Inoue and TJ Doheny. The unbeaten four-weight Japanese champion known as the Monster is back in action today at the waterfront Ariake Arena today in the Tokyo suburbs in defense of his WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO title belts at 122lbs, the division where he’s managed to unify all four major belts in only two fights after doing the same at 118lbs.
That’s been enough in the assessment of many to make Inoue the world’s No 1 pound-for-pound fighter. Standing in his way is the Irish southpaw Doheny, who five years ago held the IBF strap that Inoue holds today. But the 37-year-old challenger, a familiar face in Japan, is a massive underdog despite coming off three straight TKO victories in Japan entering today’s main event.
The final preliminary bout, a scheduled 12-round fight between Yoshiki Takei and Daigo Higa for Takei’s WBO bantamweight title, is about to start. Then Inoue and Doheny will make their ringwalks.
Japan’s Naoya Inoue, right, takes a selfie during a press conference before his super bantamweight title fight against Ireland’s TJ Doheny. Photograph: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty ImagesBryan will be here shortly.