Naoya Inoue picking TJ Doheny may be 'a step back,' but not an affront

Naoya Inoue isn’t pleasing everyone with his decision to take a showcase fight against veteran TJ Doheny Sept. 3 in Tokyo, but the four-division and undisputed junior featherweight champion hasn’t committed a mortal sin.

That was the consensus among the Tuesday panel on ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” when former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi argued, “You can’t just continue pulling big-name opponents out of a factory conveyor belt. Only so many exist. Inoue wants to stay busy.”

The fiercest argument to that point comes from the unbeaten Inoue’s mandatory WBA contender Murodjon “M.J.” Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs), who feels jilted by a journeyman in Doheny, who hasn’t fought for a belt in five years.

Akhmadaliev’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, told BoxingScene on Tuesday that his former two-belt junior featherweight champion is the worthiest opponent for Japan’s Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) following Team Inoue’s push to create a May bout against Luis Nery, who had been banned indefinitely from fighting in Japan over a performance-enhancing substance positive test.

Instead, Inoue is most likely going to skip Akhmadaliev entirely, taking on IBF mandatory Sam Goodman in December before moving on to the featherweight division in 2025, according to promoter Bob Arum.

Arum previously said Akhmadaliev doesn’t possess the name recognition to make the bout a must-happen event.

Malignaggi is fine with that, saying, “Inoue wants to stay busy. We want to see him.”

Nicknamed “The Monster,” the popular Inoue drew 55,000 people to the Tokyo Dome in May, overcoming a first-round knockdown to starch Nery by sixth-round knockout.

“He’s ‘The Monster.’ People want to see ‘The Monster,’” veteran trainer Teddy Atlas said on "Deep Waters.” “It doesn’t matter if Godzilla chomps the head off of someone smaller … he’s got an entire country behind him. Not everyone does. [This bout’s] an easy one.”

Former 140-pound titleholder Chris Algieri said that fighting the 37-year-old Doheny, who has boosted his brand in Japan by posting three consecutive knockout victories there, “might be a bit of a reprieve, a step back,” although Doheny is a former world titlist himself.

“I’ll give [Inoue] a pass. He can fight less than an ultimate legend, as he has been,” Algieri said.

“Does it have to do with the fact Inoue got dropped last time out? Do they want to make sure everything is right? Right the ship a little bit before they make that next step up? Maybe. This is not the fight I expected, but I’m not mad at it.”