TJ Doheny prepares a plan to kill 'The Beast' to win the undisputed championship

It wasn't long ago that TJ Doheny's career was in the news.

Rising star Sam Goodman had defeated him on points, adding his name to Michael Conlan, Ionut Baluta and Daniel Roman as boxers who defeated Doheny in four years. The way back up looked like a long and windy road.

That was in March of last year. Fast forward to today and Doheny is less than a month away from Ring Magazine and undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs), who he will face at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, in September 3.

So how was Doheny able to turn his career around?

“I put the work down,” the 37-year-old Irish southpaw, who lives in Sydney, Australia, told The Ring. “I'm in my 30s and I needed motivation to stay in the gym. It's hard when you're restless and there's nothing to motivate you to train. I'm also a father of four, so I'm a busy man. I have other priorities and life commitments, so I'm not really focused if I don't have a fight date. So I think the resurgence has come from fight after fight over the last 12 to 18 months.”

Longtime manager Mike Altamura orchestrated a recent performance that saw Doheny return to form. Since June last year, he has been sent to Japan to box three times, scoring three early knockouts against a strong team. Kazuki Nakajima was considered a top prospect in his country. He took four rounds. My colleague Japhethlee Llamido was undefeated. He didn't hear the bell to end the first round. On the undercard of Inoue's fight with Luis Nery in May, Filipino Bryl Bayogos reached the fourth round against Doheny before being stopped.

Doheny after his victory over Nakajima. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)

“I didn't do well against Goodman and I think they didn't pay attention to me in Japan, thinking I was going to be an easy scalp,” said Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs), who won the IBF 122-pound belt over Ryosuke. It was moved to Japan's famous Korakuen Hall six years ago. “Then I went over to Japan and bang-bang-bang, I beat three guys in 12 months. And now I'm back and I'm still going [for a] world title.”

The spate of fights helped keep Doheny strong and focused, improving every day in the gym.

“When we got that fight with Nakajima and I threw him over him, then we knew we had a fight contract to go back to Japan,” said Doheny, who is ranked number 7 at 122 pounds by The Ring. “That's what kept me motivated in the gym; we knew we would get the call any day. Then they introduced me to Llamido, a kid they had been holding very well in the Japanese stable because he had given Inoue a really hard job to take care of and stuff. I hit him with a round. Then we hope to get an opportunity on the Inoue undercard or another opportunity from Japan. That's what kept me motivated. You see what I can do when I work out and I'm in the gym.”

In a twist, Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs) was expected to face Inoue in September, but the unbeaten 25-year-old decided to face Thailand's Chainoi Worawut in July instead. Ring's No. 1 contender. 4 ranked junior featherweight is likely to get first crack at the Inoue-Doheny winner. Altamura worked hard to get Doheny an assignment in Japan.

“This is an opportunity where dreams are made,” said Altamura. “The best stage in the sport, in every belt – that's what any fighter wants. With this opportunity coming to TJ, who is 37 years old and 13 years into his professional journey, it is amazing.

“He's been on top of the mountain before, held the IBF world title and had a unification fight [against Daniel Roman] in the past, but this is arguably the biggest stage of his career, across all belts, against one of the pound-for-pound kings.

“When you look at the opportunity presented, it is a great motivation, no matter how difficult, to write yourself into the history books. And TJ has always been one of my best teammates in challenges.”

And what a challenge it is. There is little that can be said about Inoue that hasn't already been said before. He has great power in the lightweight divisions after winning championship belts in four different weight divisions, including the undisputed title and Ring Magazine championships at bantamweight and junior featherweight, while cutting through his opposition.

But not all work has been flawed. In his last fight against Nery, Inoue had to go to the canvas in the opening round after being hit by a left bomb from the Mexican southpaw. Although Inoue ended up dominant, dropping Nery three times before stopping him in the sixth, it showed a rare vulnerability from The Ring's No. 1 boxer. 2 pound-for-pound.

Doheny watched with interest from ringside.

“What I took away from that is that he's only human,” Doheny said. “It just goes to show that no one is perfect; anyone can be put down. It is obvious that we will go in there looking for the barrel, as if you will be looking for him. But it will be done wisely. I'm not going to just go out swinging and hope for the best; that's not how it's going to work.

“I think I bring a different challenge than Inoue's previous competitors. The last two were southpaws, but if you go back to their records, they were professional bantamweights. I'm a career super bantamweight and it's no secret that I'm big in weight, so I have that power and everyone knows about my punch power. I bring those qualities to the ring.

“In terms of preparation and stuff, I need to get myself in the best possible shape physically and we'll see how the fight plays out from there.”

Altamura is making no bones about the magnitude of this fight and the challenge his boxer is facing. Doheny's victory will be on the scale of Buster Douglas' upset of Mike Tyson at the Tokyo Dome 34 years ago. But Altamura has high hopes that Doheny and his coach, Hector Bermudez, will put together the right game plan to defeat the man known as “The Beast.”

“The areas we are confident about in this fight is that I know we have the better champion between these two and I know he will be stronger than Inoue if he is injured,” said Altamura.

“TJ will have to shut down some of Inoue's weapons, who is very aggressive and has a good boxing kit. He's very quick on his feet, but his head doesn't move much, though. I think there will be opportunities for TJ to counter him and shoot him, but it should be changed in the game plan.

“I feel that Hector Bermudez – for me one of the best coaches in world boxing – has the right approach and game plans that will be successful against Inoue, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it will happen. will air on September 3.”

Australian-based boxing journalist Anthony Cocks has been covering the sport for over 20 years for various publications and online publications. Follow him to X.