Naoya Inoue: record, next fight and profile →
In this week’s mailbag, we tackle the idea of a boxing league led by Turki Alalshikh and his Riyadh Season; the wet fart that is the idea of a rematch between Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Karen Chukhadzhian; a potential fight between Naoya Inoue and John Riel Casimero; and the best boxers of the past two decades who never won major world titles.
In this week’s mailbag, BoxingScene tackles Naoya Inoue’s win over TJ Doheny, whether Manny Pacquiao should be allowed to come back against Mario Barrios and those accursed sanctioning bodies.
Presuming there are no mishaps in the coming months, the world’s leading boxing stars will average just under two fights each for 2024 and when you examine their activity since 2021, that figure drops further. It falls some way below their counterparts from 30 years ago.
The team of TJ Doheny say the fighter’s back injury, sustained in the seventh-round of his loss to Naoya Inoue in Japan on Tuesday, is a short-term issue, but they have no doubt it was serious enough to cause the end of the fight
TJ Doheny, Naoya Inoue’s most recent opponent, is gigantic at super bantamweight. He looked so much bigger than the undisputed champion – and that’s something that should be taken into consideration whenever Inoue fights at that weight
DOING well in the ring with Naoya Inoue carries the same sense of foreboding a binge drinker will experience at the peak of their euphoria. In other words, you must enjoy it while it lasts. You must enjoy it while it lasts because what follows is inevitable: the vomiting, the genuflecting by the toilet, the begging for mercy. Also to come is the next-day headache, as well as the regret of knowing you were warned and understood the consequences of your actions. This, after all, is the price you pay. The price you pay for having fun. The price you pay for thinking you would get away with it.
Naoya Inoue fell short of producing his routinely dynamic showings Tuesday when he successfully defended his claim as undisputed junior-featherweight champion by stopping veteran TJ Doheny in Tokyo.
Top Rank are planning to bring Naoya Inoue to Las Vegas in 2025
The “Monster” Naoya Inoue was left picking bits of TJ Doheny out of his teeth after savaging his prey in seven rounds inside Koto-Ku’s Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Afterwards, it was confirmed by promoter Bob Arum that Inoue will next have his customary end-of-year fight in Japan before embarking on a date in America to open his 2025 campaign.
Naoya Inoue's place in the boxing Hall of Fame seems secure, yet Tuesday's fight against Doheny may offer more intrigue than most anticipate.