September 3: Undisputed WBO Junior Featherweight King Naoya Inoue to Defend Crown Against TJ Doheny at Ariake Arena in Tokyo LIVE on ESPN+

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

WBO bantamweight world champion Yoshiki Takei to defend strap against Daigo Higa in the co-feature

TOKYO (July 16, 2024) — Pound-for-pound icon Naoya “The Monster” Inoue will defend his undisputed WBO world championship against Irish-born former world champion TJ Doheny on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Inoue, a two-weight undisputed king, has knocked out eight consecutive foes.

Inoue-Doheny headlines a star-studded card streaming live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+. This special early morning broadcast will also include WBO bantamweight world champion Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KOs) defending his belt against former flyweight world champion Daigo Higa (21-2-1, 19 KOs).

“Naoya Inoue is a generational talent, and every time he fights, the boxing world stops to watch the master at work,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “TJ Doheny is a veteran who can never be counted out, as he’s defied the odds many times when fighting in Japan.”

Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) claimed his first world title more than 10 years ago and is 22-0 with 20 knockouts in world championship fights. Inoue’s undisputed legacy began in December 2022 when he knocked out Paul Butler to unify all the bantamweight titles. He then consolidated the super bantamweight division in short order, capturing the WBC and WBO world titles by stopping Stephen Fulton in eight in July 2023 before vanquishing WBA/IBF champion Marlon Tapales that December. The 31-year-old powerhouse, named 2023 Fighter of the Year by ESPN and Ring Magazine, returned to headline at the historic Tokyo Dome in May. In the first boxing card there since Buster Douglas shocked Mike Tyson in 1990, Inoue survived a first-round knockdown to KO Mexican two-division champ Luis Nery in six.

Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) has a rich history in Japan and against Japanese fighters. He is 3-0 against Japanese fighters and 4-0 on Japanese soil, with three victories as the betting underdog. Doheny dethroned IBF junior featherweight world champion Ryosuke Iwasa on enemy territory in August 2018. He defended the belt against Japanese challenger Ryohei Takahashi via 11th-round TKO the following January before losing the strap to Danny Roman in a close unification fight that April. Despite some setbacks, Doheny has rebounded with three consecutive wins on Japanese turf. He defeated Kazuki Nakajima via fourth-round TKO in June 2023, blasted out Japhethlee Llamido by first-round stoppage last October, and triumphed over Bryl Bayogos in four rounds on the Inoue-Nery undercard.

# # #