TJ Doheny's title fight could be the biggest fight ever for an Irish boxer

One would automatically think of Steve Collins' fights against Chris Eubank. Andy Lee beat Matt Korobov for the WBO title in Las Vegas ten years ago when Korobov was still undefeated. Carl Frampton was probably involved in some of the fights too. And Katie, of course. Doheny is fighting a man who is arguably number one in the pound-for-pound rankings right now.

All but three of Inoue's 27 fights have taken place in Japan. Boxing Kingdom asked this week on X if he needs to perform more in the US to become a true superstar, but in his own country he is an absolute star. His last fight in May at the Tokyo Dome was watched by 40,000 spectators. With 24 knockouts he is undefeated for over 12 years.

Inoue is a champion in four weight classes and undisputed in two of those divisions. At the end of 2022, he unified the bantamweight division. No one had ever done that in the “four-belt” era. In December last year, he unified the super bantamweight division, making him the first man since 1976 to be undisputed in the 122-pound class.

It doesn't get much bigger than this.

I have also watched a lot of Inoue's sparring matches and he seems very relaxed. He is an all-rounder and his power is phenomenal. His knockout record speaks for itself. He is 14-0 against former or current world champions. Twelve of those were knockouts. He seems to be a nightmare. “Monster” is the perfect name for him.

He's just an absolute beast. No matter where he fights, no one who knows anything about boxing denies how good he is. He does everything very well, but it was interesting to see that the Mexican who knocked him down in his last fight, Luis Nery, was a left-hander. Like TJ. So you'd never know it, even if TJ is 100/1 with the bookies.

TJ calls himself “The Power” and has 26 wins and 20 knockouts. He has been knocked down three times in his career and has gotten back up each time. He has never been beaten long-term. There is a chance this is the first time, and the question is can he do any damage to Inoue.

I lived with TJ in Boston for two months when we were both at Murphy's Boxing. We lived in an apartment and got along really well. I keep my fingers crossed for him the whole time and would love to see him do it. He has already shown phenomenal resilience and determination to get back to this level after losing three out of four fights a few years ago.

He looked a little banged up when he lost to Michael Conlan in Belfast in 2021, so it might come as a surprise to some that he's back here now, fighting for these world titles. It might be something in our Irish DNA, but he seems to be in incredible shape. They both do.

I saw what they did before the fight and TJ looks ripped. How does he approach this? His best option is to get in early and find a way to score a knockout. He's 37 now, six years older than Inoue, so age will be on each other's side as well.

As far as the mental attitude goes, it doesn't matter if you're fighting in a gym with two or three trainers, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas or at Madison Square Garden, no one else can get in the ring no matter how loud they scream. I block all that out and just focus on my opponent like I'm sparring in the gym.

I'm trying to conserve my energy. TJ knows all this. He's been in the lion's den many times. He won his last three fights in Japan, two of them against previously undefeated opponents, and he won his IBF super bantamweight world title against champion Ryosuke Iwasa in Tokyo in 2018.

There's never been a British fighter who went to Japan and won a title there. Two Irish fighters have done that. Wayne McCullough did it in 1995 and TJ did it six years ago. Two little Irish guys, which is fantastic. He also beat a Thai fighter with a good record in Bangkok, although he was obviously hired to lose.

TJ has lived in Australia for a long time now. Maybe it's that and his quiet personality but he is one of the most underrated and under-appreciated boxers and sportsmen to come out of Ireland in the last decade. Without a doubt. He is a phenomenal fighter and should be celebrated much more here.

His determination is the one thing that stands out about him. He is methodical and determined. He really respects his opponents and is a very calm guy. He was never that into social media. Maybe he's been a bit more into it since I last saw him, but he's a calm, no-nonsense guy. Not like me!

He's fought in six countries – Australia, Japan, the US, Northern Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand – and he's got a good record of pulling off those upsets. So if anyone can do it, you've got to say TJ can. It's almost like a Collins-Eubank thing again. Collins got beat three times and then beat Eubank. TJ got beat four times.

He probably still wouldn't get the recognition he deserves if he won this fight. Nothing compared to the hype and everything else we've seen around Collins-Eubank. We'll never see anything like it again. It looks like he could be completely stopped this time for the first time in his career. I hope I'm completely wrong.