The undisputed king of the super-bantamweight division will be put to the test again. Naoya Inoue will be making his second undisputed title defense against TJ Doheny in Tokyo on September 3. The two-time undisputed champion has held on to his super-bantamweight belts after toppling Marlon Tapales on Boxing Day last year. Reportedly. he has no intentions of moving up weight divisions in the next two years and wants to hold the fort at 122.

Inoue’s first title defense was a success as he knocked Nery down in the fifth and sixth rounds overcoming the setback of being knocked down in the first round. Ultimately, the Naoya Inoue onslaught was too overwhelming for Nery and the referee waved the fight off in the sixth round. Now, he will take on 37-year-old Doheny who last fought on the undercard of Inoue vs. Nery.

The fighters are done with the weigh-ins for the undisputed bout. Inoue has come in at 121 3/4lbs and Doheny weighed in at 121 lbs, successfully making weight for the bout. Top Rank posted the video of Naoya Inoue making weight, captioning it, “Another challenger awaits @NaoyaInoue_410 is ready for Tuesday morning.”

The challenger is coming to the fight on the back of three straight wins via knockout. The Irishman has done quite well to redeem himself after suffering four defeats in a span of six fights before that. The 37-year-old Southpaw will be fighting for the fifth time in Japan, and he has never lost there before. Additionally, Doheny has never been knocked out in his entire professional career. However, the fight on Tuesday will be the toughest battle Doheny has faced yet as he will be going up against an undefeated four-division world champion, with a devastating knockout ratio of 88.89%, having won twenty-four of his twenty-seven fights via a knockout.

On the other hand, Naoya Inoue can’t take Doheny lightly as the latter was a world champion himself, winning the IBF super-bantamweight title in 2018, and eventually losing it to Daniel Roman in 2019. Meanwhile, fans had a field day as they dished out their varied opinions on the ‘Monster’ who is hoping to successfully complete his second undisputed title defense at super-bantamweight.

Should Inoue fight in the US?

One fan was upset that a pound-for-pound great boxer like Naoya Inoue was boxing midweek and at such an odd time. They commented, “The dude is awesome but man that fight is 245 am out west mid week can we get 1 of the best p4p dudes over here already ?” Notably, the Inoue-Doheny fight will be broadcast on ESPN at around 5:45 am ET, which will be way too early for the US audience to watch the fight. Meanwhile, another fan, while reiterating the same point, contended that the vicious Japanese boxer is not a superstar yet as he is fighting midweek instead of the weekend. They commented, “Tuesday Nights Fights lol far from anybody’s superstar.”

Another fan claimed that Naoya Inoue might move up soon, considering he was tipping the scales closely at 122 lbs. They remarked, “He made it on the nose. Maybe gonna move up soon.” However, the ‘Monster’ has stated that he has no plans of moving up weight classes for a couple of years, and he will be defending his titles in the super-bantamweight division against more worthy challengers.

On the other hand, one fan did not like the fact that Inoue has not fought outside of Japan, and has been facing opponents like Nery and Doheny whom the fan referred to as “bums”. Pointing out that they would only consider him a worthy contender only if he moved to the US to fight, they stated, “He’s always fighting bums and there all in Tokyo?? 🤷🏽‍♂️ I mean how it’s a whole different vibe when ur not fighting un front of a stadium 100 percent full of his fans?” Well, there is only one way to find out. In fact, once Naoya Inoue announces his debut in the US, there is no doubt boxing fans will book their tickets to witness him in action.

Meanwhile, another fan is sure of Inoue’s success in America, even going on to claim that he would beat Davis comfortably. They wrote, “INOUE OWNS AMERICA AND STANK DAVIS.” It must be pointed out that Davis fights at 135 while Inoue fights at 122. This means Inoue has to jump three weight divisions to fight Davis. Safe to say, at this moment of time it seems highly unlikely.

Nevertheless, do you think Naoya Inoue will be able to successfully defend his undisputed title against TJ Doheny? Let us know in the comment in the comment section below.