By Hisao Adachi
During a media gathering in Tokyo, it was confirmed that the super bantamweight champion of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), Ryosuke Iwasa (25-2, 16KOs) of Japan, will defend his title this coming August 16 in Tokyo against mandatory world ranked and unbeaten contender TJ Doheny (19-0, 14KOs).
It will be the second defense of his title, which he won in September 2017 in Osaka, Japan, when he stopped his compatriot Yukinori Oguni by knockout.
Iwasa narrates that - "my match with TJ Doheny will be very important for me so that I will be able to demonstrate my worth as a world champion, even more with my pugilistic qualities to the quality of a world champion."
Iwasa is on a run of 6 wins (4KOs) since his failed bid for a vacant IBF super bantamweight title in his first world title match against Englishman Lee Haskins for whom he was technically knocked out in the sixth round in Bristol, Avon, England, in 2016.
For his part, undefeated challenger Doheny, an Irishman based out of Australia's Sydney, scored a victory in his most recent bout in Boston. Doheny stopped Mike Oliver (26-8-1, 8 KOs) by way of knockout in March.
In December of 2017, then #1 ranked world Doheny held a major bout in Bangkok of Thailand against then # 3 ranked world Mike Tawatchai (Pipat Chaiporn, 45-11-1, 28KOs), whom he beat by decision in a eliminator to become the official challenger to Ryosuke Iwasa.
Doheny is very happy to have this world opportunity against Iwasa and he is determined and inspired to get a great victory in Japan in August.
If Doheny manages to seize the IBF super bantamweight crown by defeating Iwasa in Tokyo, he will be the second English and Irish boxer to win a title in Japan followed by English-Irish boxer Wayne McCullogh, who became the WBC bantamweight world champion with a legendary decision win over Japanese Yasuei Yakushiji in Nagoya, Japan, in 1995.