Naoya Inoue Starches TJ Doheny Inside Seven, Andy Hiraoka Crushes Ismael Barroso, Ben Whittaker Added to Riyadh Undercard!

Japan’s “Monster” has returned with another finish victory. Naoya Inoue’s destructive power is always a credible threat for fighters in the lower weight classes. Undefeated and still in the prime of his career, Inoue’s list of accomplishments are enough to make the most storied boxing pundits tremble. Unknown to casual boxing fans in America, Inoue has stacked belts across weight classes with ease.

The complaints of Inoue not fighting in America regularly fall on deaf ears, drawing his challengers to his home in order to deliver on massive fights for his fans. In Japan, Inoue is a true ambassador of boxing. His newest encounter in the ring was against TJ Doheny. This fight ended in peculiar fashion. In an unfortunate and anti-climactic conclusion to the fight, Doheny raised his right arm with a wince of pain after having taken a straight right hand from the aggressive Inoue.

Many believe that Doheny injured his back. Others say that Doheny received a broken rib from the body shot that Inoue landed. There are no concrete answers currently as to what specifically stopped Doheny from continuing on the grounds of an injury, but it is clear that the punch Inoue landed hurt him. The 37-year-old Doheny was on track to reviving his career, having strung together several impressive performances to make himself a strong candidate for all four of Inoue’s super-bantamweight world titles. Unfortunately, his trajectory has now come to a screeching halt with this TKO loss to the pound-for-pound great from Japan. Win or lose, Doheny deserves respect for stepping into the ring against such high-class competition. His grit and determination in the face of such immeasurable odds must be applauded, but the real spoils go to Inoue, who has carved a new lane for himself through his fights in Japan.

With another undisputed defense on his resume, Inoue can now target names in the next weight class. Nick Ball has already commented on a potential clash with Inoue at 126 lbs. "Yeah, there's flaws in Inoue's game," Ball opened during an interview from Seconds Out. "His last fight Luis Nery, he got dropped, didn't he? There's that, he's been dropped. He can get hurt, so he's not a monster the way everyone is saying he is." Ball seems confident that he will be able to damage Inoue similarly to the way Nery was able to drop Inoue. His hopes of a knockout victory are certainly lofty, but not impossible.

Ball has quick hands, and despite his smaller stature, he is a dangerous power puncher. Nick Ball secured the WBA Featherweight World Championship during the "Ring of Fire" Riyadh Season card, upsetting Raymond Ford by split decision. Many fans believe Ford was disgracefully robbed by Ball and the judges, but regardless of the result it is Ball who is the most active threat to Inoue. Should Inoue move up to 126 lbs, a fight between himself and Ball would be a treat for the fans.

[Andy Hiraoka Powers Through Barroso!]

Andy Hiraoka has remained consistent in his performances for three years now. After knocking out Jin Sasaki in 2021, Hiraoka has been on a knockout rampage. Dasani was a highly ranked fighter from Hachioji, Japan with quite the impressive record himself (11-0, 10 KOs) he stood as a great challenge and international introduction. Despite being a domestic fight, all eyes were on both men.

Hiraoka walked out of this fight the victor, but the Japanese-Ghanaian fighter yearned for greater competition. Five knockouts later, Hiraoka found exactly what he was looking for against Ismael Barroso. The 41-year-old Interim WBA Super-Lightweight World Champion is best known for his loss to Rolando “Rolly” Romero, a fight in which most of the boxing community believes he was the winner.

He last appeared against Ohara Davies, knocking him out to win the WBA’s version of the interim world championship. Barroso returned to the losing column, losing his belt to Hiraoka via vicious TKO. Hiraoka looked to be the superior boxer from the second round onward, picking his shots cleanly by using head movement. Barroso was hit to the body, which tired him out quickly.

Barroso’s dwindling gas tank and poor punch accuracy led to Hiraoka easily picking him apart. Hiraoka found Barroso’s chin multiple times, stunning him and dropping him. The referee’s counts did not spare Barroso, Hiraoka rained down blows to close the show. Securing this belt puts Hiraoka in prime position for major fights at 140 lbs.

Hiraoka immediately called out Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela, the current WBA Super-Lightweight World Champion. Whether or not Valenzuela will honor the interim champion’s challenge is yet to be seen. What could make this fight difficult to make is the presence of Gervonta “Tank” Davis at 135 and 140 lbs. At any moment, a “Tank” fight could be announced. As of Friday afternoon, Valenzuela is a prime target for the “Tank” sweepstakes. If “Tank” can lock himself and Valenzuela into a WBA Super-Lightweight World Championship fight, Hiraoka would be frozen out of a title shot unless Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, or Liam Paro give him a chance at their world titles. 

DQ w/ Damani has been a major supporter of Andy Hiraoka and his work for three years, and it is impressive to see how far he has developed. With a strong Ghanian and Japanese fanbase behind him, Hiraoka has the potential to make serious noise in a world title fight. Similar to other young fighters like Christian Mbili who are bottlenecked near the top of their respective weight classes, Hiraoka will have to wait until a belt is free or a champion chooses him. The only fights that make sense for Hiraoka involve championship gold at this time, so Top Rank will have to make a serious effort to push him.

[Ben Whittaker Added to October 12th Riyadh Season Card!]

Boxing's latest showman, Ben Whittaker, is finally returning to the ring. In a move that has shocked many, Whittaker is being added to the October 12th Riyadh Season card. If you missed Whittaker's in-ring antics, you won't have to wait very long. He is scheduled to face Liam Cameron on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, a card that is already stacked to the cieling with talent.

For those who have forgotten, this card has Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke, Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta, Skye Nicholson vs. Raven Chapman for the WBC Featherweight World Championship, and Jai Opetaia vs. Jack Massey for the IBF Cruiserweight World Championship all as support fights. The co-main event is still scheduled as Shakur Stevenson vs. Joe Cordina for the WBC Lightweight World Championship. Whittaker serving as a support fight while major events are to take place in his division later in the night is a good way to keep him fresh in the minds of fans.

Whittaker has gone viral several times over for the way he approaches his fights. His "drunken master" style of boxing that was popularized by Emmanuel Augustus has earned him praise and criticism, but Whittaker's 8-0 undefeated record is hard to disagree with. After picking up an IBF regional belt in his last fight, Whittaker is being fast-tracked to higher level fights with difficulty in mind. Liam Cameron is a 23-6 fighter training out of Sheffield. Cameron's biggest name on his resume happens to be former IBO Light-Heavyweight World Champion, Lyndon Arthur.

Arthur went on to lose his belt to Dmitry Bivol in a title unification match. The connection between all of these fighters is important because of the future positioning of Whittaker. Should Whittaker impress against Cameron, he can be a fresh opponent for Arthur. If Whittaker defeats Arthur, the sky is the limit. Names such as Anthony Yarde, Joshua Buatsi, and Willy Hutchinson all become accessible.

This is all wishful thinking, but with only a few more wins, Whittaker could turn the light-heavyweight division upside down. Two days ago, Whittaker's name was linked with another English competitor. Chris Eubank Jr., also competing on the October 12th Riyadh Season card, welcomed a fight between himself and Whittaker. When asked about potentially fighting Whittaker, Eubank stated, "I genuinely have never thought about that. Who knows?" Eubank continued, "Listen, I got up to 190 pounds this year. I don’t know how. I’ve never been that weight before. I’m 34 years old, maybe the metabolism is slowing down, but I got on the scales and I was 190lbs. Is that light-heavy? Who knows? It's a sexy fight." Eubank has never been the kind of fighter to say no to a fight, but Whittaker competes at 175 lbs.

Eubank competes at 160 lbs currently, so a fight between the two men is inappropriate at this point in time. Both men are aiming for world championships in their respective weight classes, so a fight would put those goals on pause. Commercially the fight would sell well, similarly to the potential domestic clash that was Conor Benn vs. Chris Eubank Jr. If this fight does get made, expect nothing less than a trash talk extravaganza during the press conference.