Naoya Inoue makes the second defense of his undisputed junior featherweight championship against former division champ TJ Doheny at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Tuesday (ESPN+, 5:45 a.m. ET).

Inoue (27-0, 24 KOS), of Japan, won WBC and WBO junior featherweight titles with an eighth-round TKO of Stephen Fulton in July 2023. Five months later, he unified all four belts with an 10th-round KO of Marlon Tapales. He defended the titles with a sixth-round TKO victory over Luis Nery in front of 60,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome in May.

Inoue, 31, has won titles in four divisions, including the undisputed championship in two weight classes (bantamweight and junior featherweight). He’s just the third fighter in the four-belt era of men’s boxing to accomplish that feat (Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk are the others).

Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) is a former IBF junior featherweight champion. He won that belt by defeating Ryosuke Iwasa by unanimous decision in August 2018. He made one defense before losing the belts to Daniel Roman in April 2019.

Doheny, of Ireland, but now living in Australia, is making his fourth consecutive appearance in Japan.

Also on the card, Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KOs), of Japan, defends his WBO bantamweight title against countryman and former flyweight champion Daigo Higa (21-2-1, 19 KOs).

Takei, 28, who started boxing professionally just over three years ago, defeated Jason Moloney by unanimous decision in May to win the title.

Higa, 29, has won four consecutive fights since losing to Ryosuke Nishida in April 2021.


Where can I watch the Inoue-Doheny fight card on Tuesday?

The Inoue-Doheny fight card broadcast on ESPN+ will begin at 5:45 a.m. ET. The main card also includes a bantamweight title fight between WBO champion Yoshiki Takei and top contender Daigo Higa.

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How do I stream the fights?

The fights will be available to stream on mobile devices using the ESPN App.

Watch the card live on ESPN+ on the ESPN App

The full card:

On ESPN+

  • Title fight: Naoya Inoue vs. TJ Doheny, 12 rounds, for Inoue’s undisputed junior featherweight championship

  • Title fight: Yoshiki Takei vs. Daigo Higa, 12 rounds, for Takei’s WBO bantamweight title

Non-televised card

  • Ismael Barroso vs. Andy Hiraoka, 12 rounds, junior welterweights

  • Jin Sasaki vs. Qamil Balla, 12 rounds, welterweights

  • Toshiki Shimomachi vs. Ryuya Tsugawa, 10 rounds, junior featherweights


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Source: www.espn.com