“It’s been it’s been a hell of a ride,” smiles Mike Altamura, reflecting on his 12-year journey with Australia-based Irishman TJ Doheny. “It’s been a hell of a ride.”

Fight manager Altamura, one of the most-knowledgeable, passionate and interesting figures in the sport, is in the north of England with Doheny as they prepare for Saturday’s fight with Liverpool’s aggressive WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball.

Doheny is 38, Ball is 10 years younger.

Doheny has seen almost everything, fighting almost everywhere.

He’s been favorite and underdog, written off and hyped up.

“I think he’s one of those fighters that not many would have actually predicted to win a world championship on the way up, even though he's always a quality operator and he was an elite amateur,” says Altamura.

“He’s always been a highly-talented, highly-skilled kid, and rough and physical and very tough. But, you know, he was he wasn't a blue-chip prospect. He was a kid that kind of we built under the radar in Australia and then we kind of found the way through, taking opportunities where we needed to, to then we won a world title eliminator, got on the B side against [Ryosuke] Iwasa in Japan and shocked the world. Well, it shocked the boxing world that were watching on that night because he was a considerable underdog. TJ, to me, has always had a real self-belief and a mentality that if he's on, he can match anyone in the world. But I feel that the game changer was when we sent him over to Massachusetts and he started training with Hector Bermudez. He really turned the corner in terms of understanding his craft. I think that, early career, a lot of the success he's having was built on his boxing pedigree, that pedigree out of the Irish amateur system, his natural grit, his natural toughness.”

Now a worldy-wise veteran who has fought Nayoa Inoue, Michael Conlan, Iount Baluta, Daniel Roman, and Sam Goodman, Doheny’s boxed in Ireland, Australia, Japan, Dubai, the US, and Thailand.

“But Hector really taught him how to fight like a pro,” adds Altamura. “And I think that, though he's had his ups and downs, he's never given up on himself. And that's something I give him absolute full credit for, because even on some of the some of the past nights from Baluta, from Sam Goodman, from those kind of fights, he could have just decided to hang them up and become a name opponent. But he never did. He wanted to just keep proving himself, come back, put a nice little streak together. And we parlayed that all the way into the Inoue fight.” 

When they travelled back to Japan last May – to box in the Tokyo Dome in Doheny’s fourth fight in Japan – he did so knowing that victory could see him box Naoya Inoue in his next fight. That proved to be the case, too, and he fought modern great Inoue last September inside the Ariake Arena.

Having given a good account of himself, and given Inoue more to think about than many believed he would, Doheny suffered a back spasm that caused him issues for days afterwards.

Despite the pain, the veteran knew he had more left to give the sport before he even left the dressing room that night.

“Straight away,” says Altamura. “In the dressing room, straight away, he said to me that he wanted to press on if there was the right opportunities.”

Doheny wasn’t satisfied with the ending, but he was vindicated by his performance. Some had anticipated he would be blown away, but he was competitive, claimed a round or two and then his back awkwardly seized up.

“And now we're here again,” smiles Altamura, a couple of days before Doheny faces another tough and highly-regarded champion. “This is a golden opportunity to become a world champion at 38 years of age. It’s a world championship and it’s at a weight realistically that probably suits TJ a lot better. Like ‘22, to still be making ‘22 at 37, 38 years of age, he really was pushing himself to the absolute limit. So that's actually one of the conversations we had in the dressing room post-Inoue was that his days at ‘22 were finished. So let’s go to ‘26 and see what the opportunities are there. And then, of course, Nick Ball came out online and, you know, called him a quitter, said he quit against Inoue. They had a little bit of a battle, war of words on Twitter. And that’s really what stimulated, I guess, the appetite for this fight. We're all for the opportunity. Like, ordinarily, you'd need one or two fights to adjust, move up in weight, get in line, get ranked. Take the fight. We're straight into the mix with this fight. “So it's a blessing that's come our way, but I do believe that TJ is a worthy challenger.”

Altamura views Ball as a clever fighter, a crafty champion who knows how to use his diminutive stature but squat, physical presence. He feints well, has a solid jab, and tries to break his opponents down. The skilful Doheny will have to offset any momentum Ball can build, keep him turning, adjust his feet and do his best to at least contain the champion if not shut him down entirely.

“I think the belief that I take is that if he [Ball] wants to go rushing through the front door, he’s gonna to find out,” Altamura adds. “I think that TJ is the best puncher he’s been in with so far. TJ is a very explosive puncher. So if he wants to come rushing through the door and trying to bully and overpower him, he better be careful. He may just run into something interesting.”

For 12 years and many thousands of air miles, Doheny and Altamura have been through a lot. There have been the world title winning highs, the empty locker-rooms of defeat, rebuilding, restructuring and now this, what could amount to one last charge at world glory.

“I think the business of the sport tests most fighters,” Altamura reflects on their time together. “Especially those that don't have significant investment in them from day one, from a major promoter. You think that it’s always going to test your love and your passion because sometimes you rely on sponsors to get by. Sometimes you rely on family and friends to buy tickets. Other times, you’re literally fighting for next to nothing just to try and build your name and build your ranking on the hope of a brighter tomorrow. The sport has definitely tested him at times, but he’s also he’s also had a blessed run in the sport, too.”