TJ Doheny’s bid to become the undisputed super-bantamweight world champion fell short after a seventh-round injury prevented him from his continuing his fight with Japanese star Naoya Inoue in Tokyo.
Having taken several punishing body shots from the four-weight world champion, the Irishman appeared to signal that he had injured his lower back with the four-weight world champion declared the winner by technical knockout.
It is a fifth career defeat for 37-year-old Doheny, while Inoue improves his record to 28-0.
In an unfortunate and anti-climactic conclusion to the fight, Doheny raised his right arm after having taken a straight right hand from the 31-year-old Inoue.
After briefly returning to his corner, Doheny crossed the ring and congratulated Inoue, who is regarded by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Doheny, a 12-year veteran who held the IBF super-bantamweight world title from 2018 to 2019, had hoped to cause a major upset after reviving his career over the past year.
The southpaw, who has long been based in Australia, lost four out of six fights between April 2019 and March 2023, but rebounded by securing three wins in Japan to earn a shot against the 2023 ESPN and Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year.
But while the Irishman gave a good account of himself at Ariake Arena, Inoue looked in control for most of the bout before Doheny’s injury.
After a cagey opening round, Inoue went to work on Doheny’s body, landed a telling straight right hand and defended cogently as he demonstrated his impressive punching power and ringcraft.
In the third, Doheny landed some body shots of his own, but as the fight wore on, Inoue kept up a ferocious pace and wore his opponent down with unrelenting body work.
While the crowd was quiet for much of the fight, they responded to an excellent finish by Inoue in the sixth as another focused and efficient attack to the body left Doheny looking weary as he returned to his corner.
And while Doheny went the distance in all four of his previous losses, he looked in considerable pain as the fight ended 16 seconds into the seventh round.
Victory means four-division world champion Inoue has won all 24 of his world title fights, having held belts at light flyweight, super flyweight, bantamweight in addition to super-bantamweight.
Inoue, who became the undisputed super-bantamweight champion in December, is just the second man after American Terence Crawford to become undisputed world champion at two different weights in the four-belt era.
