Naoya Inoue will enter his most current title battle at the heaviest weight of his currently famous profession.

The RING and indisputable junior featherweight champ clocked in right at 122 pounds, while TJ Doheny weighed 121 ½ pounds. Their set up twelve-round champion contest headings an ESPN+ program Tuesday from Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Yokohama’s Inoue (27-0, 24 knockouts) has actually weighed simply listed below the divisional limitation for each of his 3 previous battles at the weight.

The Ring’s No. 2-rated pound-for-pound fighter was 121.7 pounds in his eighth-round knockout of unbeaten Stephen Fulton last July 25. The win included the WBC and WBO titles as he ended up being a four-division titlist and Japan’s first-ever two-division merged champ. He then weighed 121.6 pounds versus Marlon Tapales, whom he dropped in the tenth round to totally merge the 122-pound department last Dec. 26. With the win, Inoue likewise made his 2nd RING champion.

Both battles happened at Ariake Arena. He moved into the Tokyo Dome for the place’s very first boxing occasion given that 1990. Inoue was 121 ¾ pounds for his off-the-canvas, sixth-round knockout of Luis Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) on May 6. Tuesday’s defense versus Doheny will mark his 21^st profession battle with a minimum of one significant title battle at stake. He formerly held the WBC 108-pound, WBO 115-pound titles and the RING/undisputed 118-pound champion.

Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) enters his very first title battle in more than 5 years.

The Irish southpaw—who is based in New South Wales, Australia—formerly held the IBF 122-pound title. He won the belt in his very first profession battle in Japan, when he decisioned Ryosuke Iwasa in Aug. 2018. One effective defense followed before he lost an April 2019 thriller to Daniel Roman in Inglewood, California.

A go up to featherweight produced combined outcomes, and his go back to 122 led to a points loss to unbeaten Sam Goodman last March 12 in Sydney. Three wins at the weight have actually given that followed, all in Japan and each ending in knockout. He made a fourth-round interruption of Bryl Bayogos (7-0-1 at the time) on the Inoue-Nery undercard in May.

Below are the weights for the remainder 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 they each make weight. Photo credit: Naoki Fukuda

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

Ismael Barroso and Andy Hiraoka take on after making weight. Barroso protects interim WBA 140-pound title on September 3 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Yoshiki Takei and Daigo Higa bow and shake hands after they each make 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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