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Naoya Inoue will be back in action this coming September against TJ Doheny.

Some might question the choice of  opponent but Doheny is not a stranger in Japan anymore which makes this fight very sellable to Japan fight fans.

What do you think of this fight guys, cherry picking again?

https://www.badlefthook.com/2024/7/10/24195991/naoya-inoue-vs-tj-doheny-reportedly-being-finalized-september-boxing-news-2024

I think this is just another option for Naoya right now. This may not push through though. Even the Akhmadaliev fight still remains on the table, right?

Anyway, I don't think Naoya says no to an opponent out of fear, so he's not really cherry picking. But I don't think Doheny is an opponent worthy of Naoya's caliber right now. This balding old man doesn't have even a slim chance against the monster. But this fight might still sell in Japan. Of course, Naoya is their very own and they might also want him to avenge Nakajima's knockout loss to this Irish last year.

Here's another fight not worth betting. A Naoya moneyline win will certainly be less than 1.10.

If Inoue was going to take a tune up fight I would have preferred it had been at featherweight. He is already undisputed at 122 and has nothing left to prove. This fight against Doheny will be a mismatch. Sam Goodman, who might be his opponent in December, is also a mismatch. Unless Nakatani moves up, there are no more intriguing fights for him at super bantam.

126 has much more competitive fights available, and it would be in Inoue’s best interest to start campaigning at that weight and becoming acclimated before fighting against a champion.

No, the Akhmadaliev was already out of the table, it will be TJ who will get a crack at Inoue. But with that, he might be stripped though of one of the belts if he is not going to fight Akhmadaliev.



It's was the decision of Top Rank to skip Akhmadaliev for good. So most likely this will be his last fight at 122 lbs and nothing more to proved at this division. But going up to 126 lbs might be different though, as those champions are naturally bigger than him like Rey Vargas and then has the power like him. So gonna be interesting to see him move up and then take up all the challenges and become another champion at featherweight.

It's not cherry pick on the side of Naoya, it's more likely that Bob Arum wanted to have an easy fight for Inoue, at least he had to take a bring because in his last 5 fights or so, he either faces champions or former champion.

And I reckon that this could Inoue's last fight at 122 lbs as he is ready to go up in the next division and conquer it. Although as one boxer goes up weight, it is going to be tougher. So let's see, for sure boxing fans are excited for him to go up at Featherweight and see if he can bring that power.

I wouldn't question if this is a cherry-picked fight because Inoue has nothing to prove anymore. He already won 4 belts in this division, so he is the best. Now we can give him anyone he wants to fight, but I'm hoping that after this, which I presume will be another KO win for him, he'll move up and challenge the champion in the next weight class. No more "what ifs" or uncertainties—it's about time for him to leave this division and push his limits further.

I checked Doheny's highlights, and he had 2 Unanimous decision losses to Sam Goodman and Michael Conlan; these two fighters are not considered extraordinary fighters, and Inoue can beat these two guys who beat Doheny.

Michael Conlan mauled Doheny to win by unanimous decision if Conlan can do this easily, why not Inoue, Inoue's camp just wants Inoue to stack up wins before moving to the featherweight division.

There's no more challenge for Inoue in the Super Bantamweight if after he wins this fight, he still fights a regular fighter, then Inoue will just become a boring fighter who's afraid of the challenges. His real challenge can only be found in the Featherweight division.

 

Exactly, he has clean up the division, faces all the champions and obviously the undisputed already, no need to stay at 122 lbs. Might be his farewell fight and then let others fight for the belt that he will vacated.

And most likely after his fight with Puma and which he was knockdown, most likely he was thinking to really move up in weight and not take any risk. He might feel motivated again if he will go up another weight class. At least there will be enough reasons for him to stay laser focus again and who know, he could be the first fighter in modern era to be undisputed in 3 weight classes. Him and Crawford are currently the boxers who have conquered and become undisputed in 2 weight classes. But Inoue going up in 126 and claim all the belt will cement his legacy but it will not be an easy road for him.

The only good news for Inoue is if he agrees to fight Casimero or moves up to the next division, which is the featherweight division; besides Casimero, I cannot think of any other fighter who can evoke interest in the Superwelterweight division.

And this Doheny fight is going to be easy. I would not even watch this fight, only the highlights, because I don't think he has something better to offer than what other fighters Inoue beat.

I think that would be really good news, but it seems like Inoue is making a lot of excuses and dismissing Casimero based on his ranking or achievements. He implies that Casimero isn't deserving of his attention. This fight is sure to be very easy for him, but if Inoue really wants to prove to the doubters that he isn't evading Casimero, he should take care of him in his next fight after this one.

I don't think Inoue is making a lot of excuses when it comes to Casimero. Because Casimero already had his chance before but because of his controversial postponements of his previous fights, it made him far away to get the potential match-up with Inoue. So I don't blame Inoue here for not facing Casimero because there were circumstances that made it not happen.

When it comes to this upcoming fight, I don't doubt Inoue being the heavy favourite on this match. Though the KO percentage of Doheny is about 77%, but with 4 losses on his record vs 0 loss of Inoue. It would give an impression that Doheny will not be the boxer that will give the first loss for Inoue.

You mean the fight between Inoue and Casimero being postponed because of Casimero's fault?

I doubt that's what really happened. The fight was already scheduled, but when the pandemic hit, it was postponed and eventually canceled since Covid stayed longer than expected. But when everything was already clear, Inoue didn't grant Casimero the fight anymore. That's why the fans are still talking about that fight, as it was supposed to happen if Inoue's camp had made it possible.

Inoue's camp never mentioned Casimero, but on Casimero's side, Inoue is always the topic, and they made him a laughing stock, especially when he was knocked down in his last fight.

I think we're not going to see the Inoue - Casimero fight; Casimero has done a lot of taunting but to no avail, Inoue just wants to cherry-pick before moving up the featherweight, and Casimero will continue bragging that Inoue is avoiding all throughout their boxing career.

After Inoue got out of the Super Bantamweight, there's a possibility that Casimero will reign in that division.

TJ Doheny might not be the most high-profile opponent, but he's definitely known in Japan and has proven himself in the ring. I get why some are calling it cherry picking, Doheny's record doesn't exactly scream title shot. I wouldn't call it cherry-picking; Doheny's skills and experience can make for a competitive fight. But you can't deny Doheny's name recognition in Japan after those past fights. It's a good business move to get the fans out in Tokyo.

No, Casimero is to blame for the fight not happening. If you recall, Inoue fought Butler and knock him out in the 11th (if I'm not mistaken). But that could be Casimero, because that time it was supposedly Butler vs Casimero and the winning fighting Inoue next. But what happen is that Casimero went to England and he posted himself in the sauna trying to lose that extra pound, but then the British boxing commission has some rules about losing weight and so Casimero was not allowed and another Filipino takes his place and fought Butler and obviously Butler won. So that is the best chance of Casimero that time, if only he make the weight and then beat Butler, he could have face Inoue already, but fate intervene and so he lost that only chance he got.

I don't also want to think like this, but he just said no to some fighters that we know are strong like Casimero and Akhmadaliev. Aside from that, there are some articles saying that he doesn't want to fight outside of Japan. I don't understand why he doesn't want to fight in the US and only wants to fight in his home country. He isn't cherry-picking opponents yes, but he's scared on some of the fighters hence, he doesn't want to face them.

I mean if you're a strong fighter, you must always, always challenge yourself to be the best, right? Just look at Canelo where he climbed up in weight to test different divisions. Our own Manny Pacquiao also did that hence, he is the 8-division world champion. If you think you're the best out there, at least try to challenge yourself and fight other boxers, and not those fighters that aren't your level like his opponent now.

As for the fight selling in Japan, it will be, and always will be. He might be the most popular Japanese boxer right now, and they want to see them fight on their own country hence, it will be getting sold out again like what happened in his last fight where the whole stadium is filled with ~55,000 people.

Arum wants Doheny to fight in Japan since he is also known in Japan already. But this guy is old already. If the previous opponents of Inoue didn't get to win, what chances does this balding old man have as said by Darker45?  Always in Japan, I think the government also wants Inoue to just be in Japan to help their economy at the same time.

Inoue should be going 126 already. In the new weight class, he could start in the top 10 and climb up. Regardless of who he fights, he will fill that stadium. If money is all they want he can cherry-pick all the time, people wouldn't mind but he fights in US from time to time. But most of all, Arum should promote Inoue in the US to make him popular in the country.  

It's one thing to dodge a strong opponent, it's another to say no to somebody who isn't worth fighting. Casimero belongs to the latter, at least for now. Of course, Casimero can still climb to the top and become a worthy challenger of Inoue. For now, he's merely a nobody calling out the undisputed champion. To say that Naoya is scared of Casimero is a big joke. I can't see Casimero surviving 6 rounds with Naoya.

As to Akhmadaliev, why would Naoya be scared of him? He was even defeated by Tapales, who was knocked out cold by Naoya. It wasn't Naoya's decision to not face Akhmadaliev.

Whoever the promoters ask Naoya to fight against, he will fight. But, yeah, it must be in his hometown. This one at least is one thing we can criticize Naoya for. He always wants to have the homecourt advantage.

I don't know about him to stop climbing and fight the top 10. When he went from bantamweight to super-bantamweight, there are no tune-up for Inoue. He went to Stephen Fulton got his 2 belts and then fought Marlon Tapales so it will be the same route for him at 126 lbs that's why all the champions are already in the notice that they are going to be challenge by Inoue and they are going to welcome him.

I do agree though that one thing that we criticized of Inoue is not fighting outside of his native country. But that's how Japanese are, I mean they can sell out a 50,000 arena and everyone is shouting their hometown hero. And even if he as knockdown by Nery, he still comes back and knock him out for good. So good test for him and it might be that fight is his preparation on how powerful 126 lbs is and he take all of it.

Good, I already posted that this fight is going to happen here. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5499923.msg64315217#msg64315217) I wouldn't say that this i is cherry pick fight, but just a fight that will make Inoue active at least this year although there is a possibility that he might fight another one before the end of the year, so we will see.

I know that some of you are surprise TJ Doheny, but this guy is winning his last couple of fights in Japan, although only one fighter that he fought is a Japanese. He had some credentials as former champion, but he lost to Sam Goodman, who is rated number 1 by two governing bodies and another possible opponent of Inoue at the end of the year.

He is a decent fighter based on his record, and he won his last three fights, all held in Japan. His last bout was against a Filipino, while the other two prior to that were against Japanese fighters, and he won all by TKO. However, my concern is that he has not fought a boxer with a resume like Inoue, so I think this will be a mismatch.

In addition, TJ Doheny is already 37 years old, so he is at the peak of his career, and I'm afraid that after this, he might retire, especially if he suffers a KO from a heavy hitter like Inoue.

Based on his record, he has 26 wins, 20 of which are by KO/TKO, while he has 4 defeats.

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/611407

The closest is Michael Conlan, who lost by a unanimous decision. All his other losses come from unanimous decisions, and it's not even close, so against top opponents, he was dominated

This fight could be easy for Inoue; it's a cherry-picked fight. Doheny will not offer anything different from all of Inoue's opponents; he will not survive Inoue's assault and will end up in an early knockout.

And that's what attract Bob Arum to have him with Inoue, he is on a winning streak and has been fighting in Japan. Although the Filipino that he last fought in not that well-known though but it is still a win for TJ.

Nevertheless, it seems that everyone is very excited to see Inoue back again in the ring after knocking out Nery and for sure we are all looking for that kind of win and probably if we are going to bet, it might be what round TJ will go down. The KO line is not going to be very attractive, we all know that. So might be better to bet with greater odds as the rounds Inoue will end this fight.

Based on Doheny's last three fights, we can say that he is a knockout artist, so I'm hoping that he will not change his style even against Inoue. From what I've seen in Inoue's recent fights, he has faced several KO artist boxers. However, it's a shame for them that once they taste Inoue's power, they switch from attack mode to defense mode. Some even play pure defense to survive the full rounds, but in the later rounds, they still get tired, and Inoue finds their weakness to knock them out.

Yeah, we can say that he is a knockout artist, but what kind of opponents that he knockout? what I mean is the quality of them? do his opponent has a losing record and so they might be really vulnerable to being knockout. But I do agree that when Inoue land that first power shot of him, they tend to turtle and cover up, like Butler who just round the whole 11 rounds and doesn't want to engage until he was caught with another power and that's it. Same thing might apply to TJ as well, he could be a powerful puncher, but boy once he tasted Inoue's power, he will be a different fighter as he has to watch that power and not get caught otherwise it will be over.

There is a good read about Inoue picking TJ over Akhmadaliev. Most of them are giving Inoue a "pass" here, meaning it's ok for him to fight TJ.

https://www.boxingscene.com/naoya-inoue-picking-tj-doheny-step-back-not-an-affront--184882

And so it's understandable and it's hard to criticized Inoue at this point in his career. I mean we have seen who he had faced before, so maybe he just need to lay low as he also wants to fight or at least that's why Bob Arum wanted of him before going up in weight class next year.

We don't criticize him for whom he'll choose to fight as he has already beaten all the champions in this division, making him the undisputed champion. What we criticize is that Inoue is taking too long to move up when it’s very clear that he can still carry his power and speed and dominate the champions in the featherweight division. I really hope that this is Inoue's last fight in this division because with all these news coming out, people are already expecting that he'll move up later this year or early next year. He needs to be challenged now in the new division because here, he only makes his opponents look like punching bags. ( no disrespect).

That's really the big difference as it will come down to the quality of opponents. Butler, who benefited from the disqualification of Casimero, didn't look like a champion during his undisputed fight with Inoue in the bantamweight division. And in the super bantamweight division, Luis Nery was hyped as a champion and even challenged Inoue in his home country, but like Inoue's previous fights, it ended in a KO—not even a close fight.

Actually, until now, I can only remember one good fight where Inoue struggled, although he still won in the end, and that was against the old Donaire. I'm referring to the first fight, as the rematch didn't look good for Donaire.

Who could forget that? That was the best fight in the bantamweight division that I've witnessed. Donaire was able to give Inoue a scare after hitting him hard; it's just unfortunate that Donaire's power wasn't enough to KO Inoue. If he were still younger, it would have likely resulted in a KO. Donaire doesn't throw a lot of punches and he just relies on his power and timing. But as he has gets older, his power has declined as well. Since Inoue seems to have a solid chin and good stamina, he doesn't get tired easily and even knows how to stand up after getting knocked down.

The highlights of that fight are already on the internet. From time to time, when I want to witness some exciting boxing, I watch it again.

I'm curious why it has become "cherry-picking" now. Is it because there are still unannounced or finalized fights so far? They are probably preserving his statistics, but it will already be a target of criticism if this is true.

I am now curious as to what the skill level of his opponents is within the weight division. It seems to be an issue or something.

Some believe that Inoue "cherry-picked" TJ Doheny because Inoue declined his mandatory challenger, which resulted in losing his belt. Instead, he fought this fighter, who's ranked lower than the other boxers in the same division. But Inoue doesn’t care anyway, as there's a rumor that he is moving up to a new weight class after this fight. So, it doesn’t make sense for him to keep the belt since it will be vacated once he moves up. Besides, he has been the undisputed champion of this division for a while, so it’s time to let go and push himself for a new challenge.

A mismatch I guess if this is really a title fight so most likely, as others have said, this is w tune up game for Inoue. I'd more want to see him with "bigger" fighters if he really wants to create an impact to boxing industry aside from what he have done already which is being undefeated for years.Cherry picking is not a bad thing given that he is still earning those Ws and is not just given out of pity. But yest, most likely it is the case on this which is to preserve the record however, until when would this be? For sure he is recieving a lot of challenges from other fighters who wants to test Naoya's skills as well and for boxing fans, it's how things should really go. I'm reading on some articles that this ain't final yet and I would prefer him fighting other fighters but if this pushes through then I'd still watch it because that's Inoue still.

He doesn't care because he has set the standard already and there are arguments that he is the pound for pound right now with the way he clean up his division. But we all know that there will be always going to be criticism, just like Floyd when he went 50-0 and still there are fans and analyst that says he is not the GOAT.

In any case, perhaps Inoue just want to have some fun in the ring and not face a mandatory or former champion. And that is the hard thing about being undisputed, there will be a lot of mandatories, that it's hard to fight them all and the only thing you can do is vacant one or two of your belts and then fight the boxers that you want.

Disregarding the 4 defeats, he's almost like a smaller version of Beterbiev because he has 20 KOs out of his 26 wins, and he's 37 years old already.

Anyway, saying that he won his 3 previous fights through TKO means that he's a heavy hitter as well. The problem though is that he's facing a heavy hitter that has punches way heavier than him. Also add the age factor as well because we know how impactful age is to a boxer. As you go older, your endurance and stamina might decline. Well, I will still not change how I see Inoue. He's scared to fight the best fighters to the point that he's kind of cherry-picking his opponents. I also don't know why he doesn't want to fight outside of his country.

He doesn't want to fight outside of his country because he might be earning more if he fight in his native Japan. And he can filled the whole arena, let's say Saitama super arena with almost 40,000 capacity. So given that, it could translates into millions for Inoue already and then he will not have to get out of his comfort zone.

But I guess this is just one factor that we criticized of him though, not wanting to go out and fight in the USA for exposure. But that's it, perfect record, we can argue that he could be the p4p king right now fighting Doheny in Japan again and most likely he is going to win even if we see TJ also having that power.

He should not only be satisfied with what he is making fighting in Japan, he should push himself to earn more.
Based on this article https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/naoya-inoue-net-worth

That's his net worth in 2024.. So it's just a small amount of money considering he had a lot of fights already just to earn that small compared to a boxer like Pacman whom he is compared that had earn a lot of money even in just one fight.

Pacman networth now is $220.
https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/richest-boxers/manny-pacquiao-net-worth/

And with that small income from his career, Bob, being his promoter, is not making a lot of money from him. So, he also wants to bring Inoue to the US to fight more champions. I hope Inoue will push himself and accept the challenges, as that is the only way he can grow his value. He should take the opportunity while he is still in his prime because the fights are just waiting and money will follow; it's just up to him to grab them and take the risk.

Just relax, they are taking it slow but surely. Inoue's camp knows his value, so they don't want him to be careless and just fight anyone who challenges him. But you guys are right; he doesn't earn a lot, and that's a given since he is fighting in a lower division. Based on stats, the money is in the heavier divisions. For Inoue to earn bigger money, he has to continue moving up and beating the champions, which I don't think is impossible to happen. With Inoue's gift as a boxer, he can move up and still dominate. His enemy is only his own limitations, but currently, he is at a comfortable weight, so he might need to fight in more weight classes to reach his limitation.

Definitely, Inoue's camp has their eyes on a much bigger prize and we don't know their plans on this one. That's their business, so I won't think that they are just sitting on his potential and not doing their own calculations for their prizefighter.

Inoue is only 31 years old this year. If he will be busy for the next 9 years before he reaches 40, he will still gain more titles if he will embark a bloody and active years ahead. In my opinion, 9 years for a boxer is a long one as they can schedule a couple of fights in a year. Though they can arrange more if their promoter is good in haggling deals with other promoters.

Wasn't aware that his net worth is just about $7 million. But I just that's already huge amount of money to him, I mean this division unfortunately, doesn't have the attention and if I'm not mistaken, it's around $200,000 or at least that is the purse bid of the lower division. So maybe for now Inoue and his camp is thinking that they are getting a lot of money from his fights especially inside the country.

But obviously, if he will get out and fight in the US, maybe every fight could be worth $1 million or higher with the PPV and live gates + the guaranteed money that he will get from it. And that's what really separates Manny Pacquiao from the rest of the Asian boxers right now is that he is really bankable star in the US. And just imagine if Saudi has existed during his primes, Pacquiao could really generated a lot of money throughout his career.

Its ok to do that some champions takes years to move up to a higher weight division, but when people saw that you are lacking quality opponents and you have the potential to conquer higher weight divisions then you have to take actions, Inoue is a complete fighter already he just need challenges if he is bidding his time then time will caught with him.

People wants to see him moving to the featherweight division and they are hoping that he face Tank Davis in a catch weight if he wants legacy he'll do what Pacquiao did moving to territories where there are a lot of challenges.

This is what is happening with Inoue. Thank you for bringing that up, and I can see that you are really following him as a boxer. Yes, the quality of opponents has been a problem for Inoue as he easily dominates anyone he fights, whether it's a champion or a challenger—the result is the same. That's why I would like to see him fight Casimero, as he is the only boxer I believe could give him a real challenge, but it seems that's not going to happen.

Moving up will excite the fans as Inoue will be on another quest to win the championship and become an undisputed champion. I hope it will happen soon, as we are getting tired of watching one-sided fights.

It seems to me that Inoue and Top Rank are playing safe as they threw unworthy opponents in front of Inoue while the latter's move of not fighting in Las Vegas drew criticism from fight fans that he afraid of losing. If Inoue wants to follow the footstep of Manny Pacquaio then he should fight the best there is like Tank Davis or the other champions in the featherweight division and not rely on mandatory fights as the result is very obvious.

Yeah, I think Inoue could have requested from Top Rank that maybe he wanted to face a fighter that might not be a threat for him for all we know and that's why Top Rank give him TJ, but the fight is still going to be held in Japan, Lol. But perhaps casual fans might not know that sometimes fighters want to have a easy fight for them specially with the likes of Inoue really fighting hard in the last couple of years.

As for him getting into the league of Manny, not going to happen if he fights in the Japan and not in United States. Manny build up his career and resume fighting Mexicans in the US, not fighting them in his Philippines although he had some fights in this country to defend his belt. But with bigger names, they are all in the US, Las Vegas, Texas and other places that's why he had built his following and charisma because he didn't back down from challenges.

Tank Davis is three weight classes higher than Inoue. That fight isn’t going to happen anytime soon, unless there is a catchweight, which I can’t see Tank agreeing to. Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have fought mostly in the UK and only go to other countries when there is an opportunity to make more money. Inoue is in the same situation. He is fighting where he can earn the most.

Inoue is currently in the top 3 of most pound for pound lists. There isn’t going to be many fighters close to his weight that can surpass his popularity or accomplishments and make him fight outside of his home.

Yeah, Inoue vs Davis won't happen unless there's a catchweight as Davis is too strong and big for the Japanese Monster. About Inoue fighting inside Japan for most of his career, i think they do it on purpose as he still earned more than fighting outside and yup, why fight outside when the money involved in fighting inside is bigger but some fight fans (maybe the number is small) are disappointed with this move.

Davis is obviously the natural bigger fighter, but if there will be a catch up, I don't think that he will go down to let's say at 132 lbs just to entertained this fight. He said already that he is not that interested on fighting Inoue though.

And we haven't seen Inoue to 126 lbs and if he can carry his power although we believed that he will. But still though, he might be smaller at 126 lbs as there are a lot of bigger and natural featherweight that might give him a hard time. So what's more with a bigger puncher like Tank Davis.

That time will come if Inoue continues to move up. He does have to make sure that his last fight in the super bantamweight is impactful and then move up after that. Eventually, as Inoue feels he can carry his power and is backed by consistent wins, I think he will try to push his limit and move up again. Maybe one day he'll be able to fight Davis, which would be the biggest fight of his career. For now, it's just all rumors since Inoue isn't careless in making decisions. His camp ensures that once he moves up, he will still be a dominant fighter. So, for now, let's just hope he'll start to move and see from there.

That's what I want to see as well, but knowing Inoue, he stays long in a certain weight class. If he moves up, he wouldn't consider moving up to a new division until he becomes an undisputed champion. I think it's just right for them to fight at a catch weight, even if there’s no belt at risk. It would be a way to show the fans who the better fighter really is.

Even without a belt on the line, I'm sure Inoue will make the biggest paycheck of his career, probably even surpassing his current net worth with what he could potentially make if that fight happens.

The thing with Davis is that he doesn't think that Inoue can make at least to 130 lbs, and so this fight might not happen. Unless we see Inoue going to 126 lbs and still continue to destroy his opponents and knocking them down like in the bantam and super bantam weight.

He is naturally small in my opinion, it's not like he has a build similar to Manny Pacquiao. Manny's calves alone is so huge that he can go as high as 154 lbs and bring his career to that level. And Inoue if I'm not mistaken is already in his 30's so very little time for him and Davis to fight. But the thing is that he clearly wanted to go as high as featherweight so we will see if he can accomplished maybe next year.

I don't know how Davis come up with that though, but if Inoue can go to 126 lbs as reported, then that is just 4 lbs shy of 130 lbs so it's doable unless Inoue doesn't want to move up to that weight class to fight Davis.

Taking aside the comparison on Pacquiao, for me, I'm seeing that Inoue can really go up in weight class. It's really the question of if he is willing to do that or just be comfortable at fighting as his weight class. We have seen him being comfortable fighting in Japan. And as much as we want to see him go to USA to show his talent, he doesn't want to take that risk and with that kind of mindset, it's only be the factor that we will not see him go as high as 130 lbs.

From what we have heard so far, he will go up in the featherweight division of 126 lbs. But we don't know if he will continue to go and challenge the 130 lbs weight class as it is really bigger guys there. Even at 126 lbs, there are naturally bigger than him, unless he bulk up a bit and have muscle but it might slow him for good and he might not carry his power to that division.

So after this fight, it could be a very different outlook for him moving up to a new division wherein the champions are natural and they are taller. So they have all the physical attributes that Inoue hasn't seen before in his career so it will be a big challenge for him.

I also argued on something similar. However, on his present weight division, no one can offer Inoue anything that will pump his popularity to become a main event in Las Vegas. I speculate that this might be Brandon Figueroa if he has the unified championships in the featherweight division. Top Rank can promote the fight in Las Vegas with Figueroa as unified featherweight championship and Inoue as the challenger. If Inoue has the victory, this will certainly cause other famous boxers like the scammer Tank and Shakur consider if they can fight him in catchweight heheheheheh.

This isn't hard to happen if Inoue finally moves up. I don't understand what keeps him in the current division when he already knows that no one can match his power and speed. He should bring his skills to the heavier weight class and challenge the champion. That way, his popularity will boost as I'm pretty sure he can still dominate like he did in his current division.

Inoue is now very popular in Japan, but internationally, he is not one of the more popular boxers. So, I guess it's now time for him to let Bob do the job by taking his fights to the USA, where a bigger market is waiting for him. Of course, that would translate to bigger money.

It is ironic to know that Inoue being on the top of the list on the pound for pound rankings is not so popular in the US, especially in Las Vegas. Inoue is not getting any younger so i hope that Top Rank would do its job on promoting Inoue in the US.

But as what @bbc.reporter have said that there is not much opposition for Inoue to pump up his popularity in the super bantamweight division, i think they need to jump again this time to the featherweight and fight Brandon Figueroa and if successful i think his popularity will go up.

The best thing to do for Inoue is to move up in weight. He has already proven to be the king in the lower division, so moving up might give him a little challenge. Yes, just a little challenge, as I'm confident that Inoue could still beat Figueroa and other champions in the said division. Time is his enemy here. There is a belief that Inoue is going to be the next Pacquiao, but that won't happen if he doesn't follow in Manny's footsteps by moving up and challenging bigger opponents. Or perhaps Inoue doesn't have the same mindset in terms of taking on such challenges?

I think there's a lot of good champion at featherweight, it could be Brandon Figueroa or Rey Vargas, this guy are very tall for Inoue and so it might give him a problem. I don't have a problem with the pound for pound list, but it's subjective though, this month it could be Usyk, but then it might change and we will see Inoue, so it's dynamic and not reliable source on how good a boxer is.

And Inoue to be known, he really needs go get out of his comfort zone and really fight in the US. Hopefully, Bob Arum will have to really push Inoue to go to Stateside and fight the best 126 lbs as most of them are really base on the US.

I disagree. It will be difficult for Inoue because there are 4 different champions in featherweight and Brandon Figueroa is only an interim champion. Maybe if Figueroa becomes the real champion and get the WBC championship, Inoue might gather more popularity if he think he can knockout the tough Mexican. This will be very much similar when Pacman won with a corner stoppage against Marco Antonio Barrera. Good Mexican boxers are very much loved in Las Vegas and if you can win with a stoppage or a knockout, you certainly win many fans. After this, Inoue can unify the featherweight championships. All if them in Las Vegas hehehehe.

You are right, I check the current champions and Figueroa is not there, it is,

Rey Vargas - WBC
Nick Ball - WBA
Luis Alberto Lopez - IBF
Rafael Espinoza - WBO

So with that list, no need for Brandon for now, he should target Vargas, a taller feather, or the rest, who is build like a natural 126 lbs. But we want to see Inoue at least fight in the US, maybe 1 fight a year is not that bad for him to travel so that the Americans can appreciate his talent.

@TravelMug. However, these champions in the featherweight division cannot offer anything for Naoya Inoue. They cannot offer more money than the money he is earning in Japan and these champions are not big names with much fans hehehee.

In any case, the WBC has ordered their champion and interim champion to fight. Let us wish that this is a victory for Figueroa with knockout!



WBC orders Rey Vargas vs Brandon Figueroa title consolidation

In a long, long overdue move, Lance Pugmire reports that the WBC has finally ordered featherweight champion Rey Vargas to defend his title against interim champ Brandon Figueroa.

Less than a month after Vargas (36-1-1, 22 KO) unsuccessfully challenged O’Shaquie Foster for the vacant super featherweight title, Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KO) overpowered Mark Magsayo for the interim belt last March. Rather than do the obvious thing and just have them duke it out right away, the WBC allowed Vargas to sit out for another year before sticking, moving, holding, and flopping his way to a draw with Nick Ball.

Two months after that, Figueroa ended his own layoff by flattening Jessie Magdaleno to cap off what was, to that point, a rather underwhelming performance.

Source https://www.badlefthook.com/2024/6/6/24173222/wbc-orders-rey-vargas-vs-brandon-figueroa-title-consolidation-boxing-news-2024

@bbc.reporter - I do agree that they should fight, Vargas as the regular champion and then Figueroa the interim belt. It's about that because Vargas has held the belt hostage for so long if I'm not mistaken. And for me he should have been stripped already since he attempted to fight and lost to O'Shaquie Foster for the Jr. Featherweight and then a draw with Nick Ball.

So it's good that the WBC mandated that fight to settle once and for all who is their champion. And then after this, maybe the winner will face Inoue next if Inoue decided to go up in weight next year and started with a banger fight either Vargas and Figueroa, who are very tall for Inoue and it might give him a good challenge.

Well at this point in his career, it's the question whether Inoue wants more money or go for the glory of winning all belts as and what we call, cementing his legacy to be the best Japanese fighter in this era or even the best boxer pound for pound.

And if ever the fight pushes between Rey Vargas and Brandon Figueroa, yeah, I think Brandon might win that slugfest over Vargas. Vargas is also known to be a volume puncher however, his chin is very suspected. And even if he has beaten Magsayo, I think Mark soften the chin of Vargas already and if Brandon can hit them cleanly, he might score a knockout or knockdown.

He is still young, and there's still a lot of time for him to prove what he can achieve. He should not limit his success to the current division he is reigning because many believe that once he moves up one more division, he'll still be able to dominate. I don't know what Inoue's plan is, but if he thinks he can't push any further, then it's much better if he just retires.


Same thoughts here. In terms of skills, I think Figueroa has a slight advantage and I think the fight are not going to last to the judges scorecards, it will be a close one but I find Vargas being a good target since his defense aren't that great.

Figueroa is the younger fighter, but Vargas could use his experience against a young WBC interim champion. This will be exciting to watch if it happens, as I am already missing some action in the featherweight division. In terms of KO percentage, Vargas is at 61% while Figueroa is at 76%, so it's really possible that Figueroa could knock out Vargas if he finds a good opening.

Check the comparison record below
https://box.live/fights/vargas-vs-figueroa/

Yeah, Brandon is young and he might be as tall as Vargas, but I think he has more power though and he can absorb punches as he has faces crazy heavy puncher like Magsayo, Nery and Fulton and recently knockout former champion in Jessie Magdaleno.

So both can be punchers, but I will also agree that Brandon is a good pick if this fight materializes in the future.

But we will have to look at Inoue's performance against Doheny here, but for sure he had already the champions in his mind in the featherweight division like this two tall boxers.

I wouldn't expect an upset here. I'm sure this will be the same as his previous fights, with the fight ending in a KO. Inoue chose to fight a boxer who isn't even a mandatory opponent, so Doheny's ranking is lower, which speaks to his quality as a boxer. Inoue will win this, period.

What I'm expecting after that fight is that Inoue will announce that he'll be moving up and will try his campaign in the featherweight division. He could go fight a champion right away, just like what he did when he left the bantamweight division to move up.

I reckon Inoue at present only wants money. This is why he is only agreeing to fights in Japan because his purse will be bigger. This is also because the other fighters cannot offer anything for him in Las Vegas, not more money and not more fans to watch the fight. Inoue might be thinking he is taking more risk than his opponent if he is the loser.

Also yes, I wish this will be a knockout for Brandon Figueroa and he will mention Naoya Inoue's name after the victory hehehehe. This will certainly begin the hype.

That has been the rumor, so most likely, that would be his next move, as he can't stay in this division forever. After this, there's no interesting fight to anticipate among the current mandatory fighters. If he doesn't want his fans to be disappointed, moving up for another championship fight should be the best option. Maybe this will be Inoue's last fight this year because it will be held in September. So, I'm expecting that he'll have a fresh start next year in a higher division.

Crawford had already move up to 154 lbs. and had beat the champion, so it's also possible with Inoue.

That was the plan, at least what Bob Arum says, as him and Inoue's Japanese manager, so after this fight, going to move up to the featherweight division and go direct to the champion. But we will only know once Inoue make it official.

Just to bad for Akhmadaliev not to be able to fight Inoue, but if Inoue goes up then he might fight for the belt again.

And good for the former champion Doheny to get a chance to fight the monster, but as we have seen, everyone has fallen to the power of Inoue and as the odds says, Doheny has a slime chance to win.

Maybe they are serious about this decision, as the excitement has already declined since Inoue has been winning so easily, there's no real challenge for him as a boxer anymore. A boxer with Inoue's skills needs to be on a bigger stage. Since Bob mentioned that Inoue could be like Pacquiao, or even better, he should be guided along the path Pacquiao took during his active years.

Or might be good for him so he'll not suffer another defeat, and might be worse with Inoue.

This fight might send Doheny to retirement if he'll try go toe to toe and aim of knocking out the monster.

Yes, so it's really hard to force him to fight outside of USA. I mean there could be the language barrier itself and then he is making a lot of money fighting in his hometown and if my memory serves me right, he if fighting in a large venue and then he can put fans to the seat and watch his fight and obviously, he is the cash cow as far as Japan's boxing scene.


Bradon is a puncher, and he loves to engage, so if that happens between him and Rey Vargas, there will be one body going into the canvass and I reckon it might be Rey Vargas because his chin is very much suspected.

@TravelMug. A knockout victory against Rey Vargas is very much my wish because this might begin speculations that Figueroa might be the boxer to unify the featherweight division which would also might create an interest for Inoue to fight him.

If Naoya Inoue maintains all of his championships in super bantamweight and if Brandon Figueroa has unified the featherweight division, this will be a unified champion vs. unified champion between big names in boxing. This might be good for a boxing main event in Las Vegas.

I just check the odds though, and it seems that book makers are not given TJ Doheny to win the fight,

Naoya Inoue - 1.01
TJ Doheny - 12.00

So that a huge disparity and for sure we won't bet on that ML. And I don't think that boxing bettors here are going to like what they are seeing as far as the odds though. By KO by Inoue it is listed at 1.08.

Going to distance is No at 1.06. So again, as boxing gamblers, we might totally skip this fight and just watch how Inoue will win again.

^^ It's really hard to bet on this fight if we will see such kind of odds, and I do agree that as it TJ is going to lose here. But who can't blame the sports bookies for making Inoue a big favorite entering this fight?

Although he had taste canvass against Neri, still though he put on a show and knock him out for good. And in his last 4-5 fight, all of them are in knockout so the trend might continue here against TJ Doheny and it's going to look ugly for TJ tasting the canvass in maybe 6 rounds or less.

I think Inoue can maintained all his belts at super bantamweight. But I doubt that Brandon can unified the belt in time before Inoue goes up in that weight class. But for sure we all know that if Inoue will go up, he might be facing any on the reigning champions. It's like the privilege he has as the reigning super bantamweight and if I'm not mistaken, some of the champions are already waiting for him to move up to their division.

As for the odds, yes, I do agree, it's not that attractive and appealing to us. And I'm not sure if we should bet here or just be watching in awe on how destructive Inoue is against TJ in this fight.

Hehehe with these types of odds offered, I reckon we fans should bet on the over-under which is under 4.5 rounds with odds of 1.66. There is also Naoya Inoue and what round which pays very handsomely. Inoue with a knockout victory in round 1 is 8.60! Round 2 is 6.60! Round 3 is 5.60! Round 4 also 5.60! Round 5 6.60.

There is also Inoue with round ranges 1-3 and rounds 4-6 which have odds of 2.43 offered. This will certainly be a victory for Inoue!

I actually much more interested in Inoue fight with Akhmadaliev, but in reality Inoue turned it down and chose TJ Doheny as his opponent in September.
For this fight between Inoue vs TJ Doheny, it is clear that Inoue has greater advantage and of course this is very easy fight for Inoue to win.
I think Inoue will be able to finish it like some of his other fights where it is KO victory for Inoue and he still maintains his title and record.

In the betting options we all see that Inoue is really the favorite, but it makes sense considering that TJ Doheny is also not boxer who looks equal to Inoue abilities.
I won't take it, but maybe I will see how this fight goes because Inoue will definitely get KO victory for the umpteenth time.

Yes, it's just to bad that Inoue has passed on Akhmadaliev, perhaps there was no incentive for Inoue as Akhmadaliev doesn't have the belt anymore. On the other hand Doheny, is a boxer that is popular in Japan, as he has been campaigning there and has like 3 or 4 fights already and so Japanese fans are familiar to him.


There is no doubt that the opening line favors Inoue, and I guess we can't just deny it. He has clean up the division already except for Akhmadaliev. And as reported this could be his last fight in this division and then moving to a weight class that is more challenging to him.

Speaking of betting lines, it's pretty obvious that Inoue is the heavy favorite to win.

https://www.oddstrader.com/boxing/event/naoya-inoue-vs-tj-doheny/odds/

he is -4000 (moneyline ) and the total is only over/under 4.5. That total tells what could possibly happen in this fight, and I think this wouldn't last long since Doheny is a kind of boxer too that wants to go all in, so we might even see a 1 round fight or max of 2.

Yeah, round ranges could be a big odds, or even exact rounds as well as this is the only line that is worth betting for us. As for the under 4.5 rounds, still good odds at 1.66. However, you will need to throw a lot of money in order to just satisfy yourself of taking a big win. Haven't heard of anyone though, taking about TJ pulling a upset here. And I think the closest that someone thought and could have bet on the underdog against Inoue is Neri, who scored a knockdown and so for sure bettors for him are elated. Unfortunately, no one still has the blue print to bet Inoue and I think it will continue to be like that until he goes up in weight at featherweight and then a new set of opponents for him that is taller and heavier.

This is really risky, in my opinion, especially since Inoue's last KO didn't come early. But anything could happen, especially if Doheny is also looking to end the fight early. Inoue has shown some vulnerability, as he has been knocked down before, which might give Doheny some confidence, thinking his power could be enough to beat Inoue. As for Inoue, this could be his last fight in the current division, so he’ll want to finish his journey with an impressive win, preferably a KO. So, consider your bets carefully, and remember that nothing is guaranteed.

But I guess his opponent that time is Nery, and I would consider him a durable fighter as compare to TJ here. But yeah, anything can happen, Inoue is not known to be a fast starter specially when he started to fight top notch fighter and that's why under 4.5 rounds here is a bit risky as you have said.

Doheny has his own winning streak as well and he has been inside of Japan no there's no need for him to adjust on the weather as he is used to it and it can work it out for him to go to distance against Inoue here. However, I'm one of those that are not going to bet here, I will just see and enjoy the fight. And then wait for Inoue to announce that he will officially go up to Featherweight class.