Naoya Inoue vs TJ Doheny likely for September 9th

Doheny should have lost against Iwasa.

He's 5-4 since 2019 with no wins against any credible fighters. I like Doheny and he's an entertaining fighter but he didn't really do anything to earn a shot with Inoue. Sam Goodman had already beaten Doheny last year so it would have made more sense for him to take the spot for September.

The only reason Doheny is lined up for Inoue is because of his wins over Japanese fighters. The Nery fight worked so well because of the story behind it with their fighters so I guess they wanted to do the same with TJ Doheny. But unlike Nery this fight adds nothing for Inoue's resume other than activity.

 

TJ's on the TBRB and Ring 122 top 10. He looked pretty good in his last 3 fights. He's not a top man in the division but he's still a decent opponent. I'd rather see Liam Davies but Davies hasn't ever fought outside of the UK, has never fought a Japanese opponent, and hasn't worked his way up the rankings in the big orgs like TJ has done with the WBO, meaning that it wouldn't satisfy the mandatory defence and wouldn't sell in Japan as well. Goodman messed up the schedules and this is the best Inoue could get as a back-up. I'd rather see TJ than Casimero honestly, TJ's been in much better form than JRC has recently and has actually been winning his fights convincingly at a similar level of fringe contender/gatekeeper. It's not ideal but we'll still see Inoue fight Goodman and MJ sometime in the near-future.

 

I don´t necessarily mind the fight, I just disagree with anyone who legitimately considers TJ a top 10 contender.
Hopefully Akhmadaliev is next in line, as he is arguably the top contender.
Casimero is clearly past his best.

 

Doheny is going to take a beating, Inoue will stop him inside 6 rounds.

 

Internet fans say the want fighters to fight more than twice a year then complain when a guy fights 3 top 3 and a top 15 (at worst) fighter in just over a year lol

 

Goodman is top 5, Baluta beat a very off form Doheny but has proven himself to be quite a solid scrapper himself, and Conlan made him fight a weight class above on short notice. He's bounced back with two wins over highly touted prospects and one decent prospect, all by KO in Japan to earn his spot. He's a big hit with the Japanese so he's an ideal opponent for a title defence before facing Goodman himself who broke his hand.

 

Conlan fight happened at some catchweight. Conlan was 124 and TJ 123 at the weigh in. I don´t get why so many keep saying that TJ moved up in weight for that one. TJ weighed 124 for his previous two fight as well.
Same story with Baluta. Few people have brought up the fact that it was at 126. But Baluta himself was competing at 122 at the time. So it´s kind of a pointless thing to bring up.

TJ has had a nice little run, I won´t deny him that. Especially his win over Llamido.
But he is still a 37 year old who is way past his prime, and the last time he beat a top 10 guy was in 2019.

This fight is definitely happening because of how popular TJ is in Japan, and I can´t blame Inoue for taking it. Otherwise he would be just sitting on his ass.
Last I heard is that Akhmadaliev is waiting for the purse bids. Rumors are Akhmadaliev turned down some kind of an offer to fight in Japan.