Promising a barnburner of a bout, undefeated & undisputed super bantamweight champion, Naoya Inoue will return to the squared circle on September 3 to defend his titles against veteran Irish southpaw, TJ Doheny. Coming off of a massive KO win against Luis Nery, this bout will mark the 28th professional fight for ‘The Monster’ when he takes on the 37-year-old former IBF champion.
The action is scheduled to go down at the Ariake Arena in Japan. Now, for those of you who want to catch the action live, here are the main event start timings –
| Country | Main Card Timings |
| USA | 2:30 am ET (Sep 3) |
| Canada | 2:30 am ET (Sep 3) |
| UK | 3:30 am BRT (Sep 3) |
| Australia | 4:30 pm AEST (Sep 3) |
| New Zealand | 6:30 pm NZST (Sep 3) |
| Brazil | 3:30 am BRT (Sep 3) |
| France | 8:30 am CEST (Sep 3) |
| Sweden | 8:30 am CEST (Sep 3) |
| Ireland | 7:30 am IST (Sep 3) |
| Italy | 8:30 am CEST (Sep 3) |
| Argentina | 3:30 am ART (Sep 3) |
| Russia | 9:30 am MSK (Sep 3) |
| Mexico | 1:30 am CT (Sep 3) |
| China | 2:30 pm CST (Sep 3) |
| Japan | 3:30 pm JST (Sep 3) |
| India | 2:00 pm IST (Sep 3) |
| UAE | 10:30 am GST (Sep 3) |
| South Africa | 8:30 am SAST (Sep 3) |
| Saudi Arabia
Nigeria | 9:30 am AST (Sep 3)
7:30 am WAT (Sep 3) |
As for the defending champion, the strategy is simply – go and finish his opponent, knock him out, and extend his unblemished record to 28-0 while for Doheny this might as well be his last crack at the title so you can expect the Irishman to come out guns blazing.
Meanwhile, experts have dropped their predictions, picking the Japanese ‘Monster‘ over the ‘Power’ Doheny.
Naoya Inoue vs TJ Doheny – Predictions
Boasting 24 knockouts, Inoue is no cakewalk. The Japanese fighter has time again and again distanced himself as the pound-for-pound best in the world with stellar showings. In fact, the champion has amassed eight KO wins in his last eight bouts including those over Luis Nery, Marlon Tapales, Stephen Fulton, etc.
On paper, the bout is not a challenge for Inoue despite his Irish counterpart’s three-fight win streak.
Doheny is riding a three-fight win streak, brilliantly bouncing back from his unanimous decision loss to Sam Goodman, defeating three Japanese pugilists via TKO. Now, we asked Google’s Gemini AI for a quick prediction and it gave the win to Inoue. Though it recognizes the threat Doheny poses, the hometown hero’s speed and power will be the deciding factor of the bout.
Always shining in the greatest of stages 🌟
Monster Milestones: Naoya Inoue is LIVE NOW ➡️ https://t.co/rMeOVp7sQp pic.twitter.com/0qT2ZkQCzi
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) August 28, 2024
Likewise, International Boxing Hall of Fame matchmaker, Brad Goodman also places his bets on the Naoya. As per reports from Boxing scene.com, he said,
“Listen, Doheny’s going to try, but he’s just completely outgunned. Inoue is one of those guys that’s on another level. One of the best out there. I’d say top two or three in the world.”
Much like other experts’ predictions, Goodman also doesn’t see the bout going in any other direction and expects the champ to outstrike and outbox the challenger without a fuss.
