IRELAND’S TJ DOHENY fought gallantly but fell short in his challenge for the undisputed super-bantamweight title against pound-for-pound contender Naoya Inoue in Tokyo.

Japan’s ‘Monster’, 31, was in control of the contest when Doheny pulled up with an apparent back injury in the seventh round, forcing referee Bence Kovacs to wave off the contest.

Portlaoise’s former world champion Doheny, 37, was a 20/1 outsider coming into the bout but greatly exceeded expectations with his performance, which was applauded by Inoue during the champion’s post-fight interview. Southpaw Doheny, who is based in Australia, enjoyed plenty of success, clearly winning the third round against the all-time great home fighter.

However, Inoue had begun to dish out significant punishment at the turn of the fight before Doheny’s back gave out, forcing the challenger to limp away from an exchange and seek refuge.

With Doheny clearly incapacitated, referee Kovacs had no option but to end the fight.

In victory, Inoue defended his crown at 122 pounds and improved his record to a remarkable 28-0 (25KOs). Doheny’s defeat saw his record drop to 26-5 (20KOs), but he only added to his reputation in asking plenty of questions of ‘The Monster’ and taking the bout into its second half.

“To this match especially, I want to celebrate how TJ Doheny brought the fight to this ring, and his career,” Inoue said via a translator after the bout. “I would like to thank him.”

Doheny, meanwhile, didn’t give an interview as he was carried out of the ring, upright, by his corner.

Four-weight world champion Inoue, who boasted a 91% knockout ratio in world-title fights entering the contest, had been the 1/100 favourite to retain his title against Doheny whose peak years are behind him.

While many in boxing considered this bout to be a mismatch, Doheny brought with him a rich vein of form having sparked an Indian summer to a career which looked effectively over just a year ago.

‘The Power’ from Portlaoise, who has been based in Syndey’s Bondi Junction throughout his 12-year professional journey, unseated then-IBF super-bantamweight champion Ryosuke Iwasa at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall six years ago, becoming only the second ever fighter from either Ireland or the UK (after Wayne McCullough) to win a world title in Japan.

But between March 2020 and March 2023, Doheny suffered three defeats in four bouts — to Ionut Baluta In Dubai, Michael Conlan in Belfast, and Sam Goodman in his adopted hometown — and looked fit for retirement.

The talented southpaw, however, decided to give boxing one last crack and pulled off three successive knockout victories in Tokyo — including a first-round annihilation of fancied American up-and-comer Japhethlee Llamido last October — to put himself back into world-title contention.

On the undercard of Inoue’s victory over Luis Nery in May, Doheny, who is massively respected within the Japanese boxing community, dispatched unheralded Filipino Bryl Bayogos in four rounds to seal a shot at the undisputed ‘Monster’.

At the Ariake Arena this afternoon (Irish time), Doheny proved himself worthy of that opportunity and earned a high-six-figure paycheck which will greatly help him and his family should he decide to retire.

It was Inoue who predictably led the dance. The champion’s relentless pressure in the sixth and seventh rounds evinced a sense of inevitability about the outcome, and Doheny’s lower-back injury, while galling, may have spared him a more gruesome end.

There was a lower-tempo start as Inoue, clearly respectful of Doheny’s power, shaded an extremely cagey opening round. He stalked Doheny to the corners but didn’t unload, instead waiting for Doheny to make a mistake upon which he could capitalise. Doheny, too, was seeking to lure Inoue onto his money-shot left hand but Inoue, a master boxer as well as a knockout artist, didn’t take the bait.

Inoue landed a couple of powerful right hands in the second which almost sent Doheny through the ropes but the Irishman wasn’t particularly hurt. Doheny landed the next shot in anger, his first real power punch of the bout, as a tidy left hand upstairs caught Inoue as he pulled out of one of his own attacks.

The home fighter punctuated the second round, however, as he briefly trapped Doheny in the corner and unloaded a five-shot combination to Doheny’s shoulders and head just shy of the bell.

Doheny, clearly two rounds down, responded with a brilliant third. The Laois southpaw controlled the centre of the ring, landing shots to both body and head and greatly reducing Inoue’s output with his own clever movement.

Doheny picked up where he left off in the fourth, landing a succession of big left hands upstairs. While they didn’t especially trouble Inoue, who has a granite chin, they plainly provoked him. The champion attacked with more spite in the second half of the round, targeting Doheny’s 37-year-old body.

Inoue came close with a couple of big shots targeting Doheny’s head, instead finding only glove or shoulder and inspiring the smiling Doheny to tell him repeatedly, ‘Almost, son!’

Inoue, though, still sneaked the fourth as he began to up gears to a pace at which the older Doheny would not be comfortable.

Doheny hung tough in the fifth, answering Inoue’s assaults with moments of his own success but the tide had decidedly turned towards the fresher, more naturally powerful boxer.

Inoue poured it on Doheny in the sixth, finishing with his best combination of the fight and while Doheny again snapped back with a couple of neat one-twos throughout the round, the writing was on the wall.

The finish, however, was unexpected in exactly how it materialised. Inoue was pouring it on Doheny against the ropes when the Irishman raised his glove and turned away.

Credit to Inoue, who immediately pumped the breaks and allowed Doheny to hobble across the ring where he eventually retired from the contest citing a lower back complaint.

Inoue’s celebrations were tempered but he was a fully deserving winner in his 24th world-title bout. Doheny, too, was deserving of the champion’s plaudits after an excellent effort against one of the three greatest boxers on the planet.