Naoya Inoue and TJ Doheny make weight for the RING 122-pound championship in Tokyo

Naoya Inoue will contest his latest title fight in the heaviest weight class of his already legendary career.

The RING and undisputed junior featherweight champion weighed in at just under 122 pounds, while TJ Doheny weighed in at 121 ½ pounds. Their scheduled 12-round championship fight is the main topic of an ESPN+ show on Tuesday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Inoue (27-0, 24 knockouts) from Yokohama was just under the division limit in each of his three previous fights in this weight class.

The Ring's second-best pound-for-pound fighter weighed 121.7 pounds when he knocked out undefeated Stephen Fulton in the eighth round on July 25 last year. The win earned him the WBC and WBO titles, making him a four-division titleholder and Japan's first unified two-division champion. He then weighed 121.6 pounds against Marlon Tapales, whom he stopped in the tenth round on December 26 last year to fully unify the 122-pound division. With the win, Inoue also won his second RING title.

Both fights took place at the Ariake Arena. He moved to the Tokyo Dome to compete in a boxing event there for the first time since 1990. Inoue weighed 121 ¾ pounds in his sixth-round knockout of Luis Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) on May 6. Tuesday's defense against Doheny will mark his 21st.^st Career fight with at least one major title fight on the line. He previously held the WBC 108-pound middleweight title, the WBO 115-pound middleweight title, and the RING/undisputed 118-pound title.

Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) is fighting his first title fight in more than five years.

The Irish southpaw, who is based in New South Wales, Australia, previously held the IBF middleweight title, winning the belt in his first career fight in Japan when he defeated Ryosuke Iwasa on points in August 2018. He followed that up with a successful defense before losing in a thriller to Daniel Roman in Inglewood, California in April 2019.

A move up to featherweight brought mixed results, and his return to the 122 division ended in a point loss to undefeated Sam Goodman on March 12 in Sydney. Since then, he has won three times in that weight class, all in Japan and all by knockout. In May, he defeated Bryl Bayogos (then 7-0-1) in the fourth round on the Inoue-Nery undercard.

Below are the weights for the rest of the undercard.

Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KOs), Yokohama, 117 ¾ pounds
Daigo Higa (21-2-1, 19 KOs), Tokyo, 117 ¾ pounds
12 rounds for Takei’s WBO bantamweight title

Yoshiki Takei and Daigo Higa bow and shake hands after reaching their weight. Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda

Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KOs), Miami via El Tigre, Venezuela, 140 pounds
Andy Hiraoka (23-0, 18 KOs), Yokohama, 140 pounds
12 rounds to defend Barroso’s interim WBA junior welterweight title

Ismael Barroso and Andy Hiraoka face off after making weight. Barroso defends his interim WBA 140-pound title on September 3 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Yoshiki Takei and Daigo Higa bow and shake hands after making weight. Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda

Jin Sasaki (17-1-1, 16 KOs), Tokyo, 146 ¼ pounds
Qamil Balla (15-1-1, 8 KOs), Victoria, Australia, 147 pounds
12 rounds, welterweight

Toshiki Shimomachi (18-1-3, 12 KOs), Osaka, Japan 122 pounds
Ryuya Tsugawa (13-1, 9 KOs), Osaka, 121 3/4 pounds
10 rounds, Junior Featherweight

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