Undisputed world super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘’the Monster’’ Inoue of Ohashi Boxing Gym will defend his titles on Sept. 3 against the World Boxing Organization’s second-ranked super bantamweight TJ Doheny of Ireland at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena, Inoue told reporters on July 16 at a Tokyo hotel.
The 31-year-old Inoue has 27 straight wins, including 24 knockouts. He retained the titles by stopping Luis Nery of Mexico on May 6 at Tokyo Dome. The 37-year-old Doheny, who now resides in Australia, has a 26-4 win-loss record with 20 KOs. The left-handed Doheny, a former International Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion, stopped Bryl Bayogos of the Philippines in one of the undercards of the Inoue-Nery confrontation.
Meanwhile, Inoue’s stablemate and WBO bantamweight champion Yoshiki Takei will make his first defense of the title he captured from Jason Moloney of Australia on May 6 as Inoue’s undercard, will take on top-ranked WBO bantamweight Daigo Higa of Shisei Boxing Gym as the chief supporting card for the extravaganza.
The 28-year-old Takei, a former K-1 champion, is undefeated in his nine professional bouts, eight by KO, while Higa, also 28, is a former World Boxing Council flyweight champion and has a 21-2-1 win-loss-draw tally with 19 KOs.
Besides, Andy Hiraoka of Ohashi gym, the World Boxing Association’s seventh-ranked super lightweight, will face WBA interim super lightweight champion Ismael Barroso of Venezuela in a 12-round fight, which is regarded as a preliminary fight for the WBA super lightweight title fight.
The 27-year-old Hiraoka has 23 straight wins, 18 by KO, while the 41-year-old Barroso has a 25-4-2 win-loss-draw tally with 23 KOs.
Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation and the WBO’s Asia-Pacific welterweight champion Jin Sasaki of Hachioji Nakaya Boxing Gym will defend his titles against Qamil Balla of Australia as one of the undercards.
The 21-year-old Sasaki has 17 wins, including 16 KOs, against a loss and a draw, whereas the 34-year-old Balla has a 15-1-1 win-loss-draw tally with eight KOs.
Japanese super bantamweight champion Toshiki Shimomachi of Green Tsuda Boxing Gym will defend his title against third-ranked Ryuya Tsugawa of Mitsuki Boxing Gym, also as an undercard.
Shimomachi, 27, has 18 wins, including 12 KOs, against a loss and three draws, while the 23-year-old Tsuruga has a 13-1 win-loss tally with nine KOs.