Yoshiki Takei vs Daigo Higa and Ismael Barroso vs Andy Hiraoka are also on tap
Undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue is officially set to meet TJ Doheny atop a September 3rd title tripleheader at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena.
It’s worth noting that the announcement claims Inoue (27-0, 24 KO) will defend all four of his titles, meaning the WBA has not acted on its outstanding order that Inoue face Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
As mentioned before, Doheny (26-4, 20 KO) is a familiar face to the Japanese audience, having fought his last three in the Land of the Rising Sun. He’s also 37 years old and entered that three-fight run on a 2-4 skid, making him far more financially appealing than competitively appealing for “The Monster.”
In other championship action, WBO bantamweight champion Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KO) will make his inaugural defense against former flyweight titlist Daigo Higa (21-2-1, 19 KO). Takei is coming off an entertaining decision win over Jason Moloney that saw him survive near-disaster in the final round, while Higa is 6-1-1 since the JBC forced him up to 118 following his weight miss against Cristofer Rosales, including a well-aged loss to future champ Ryosuke Nishida and a draw with current contender and potential title challenger Seiya Tsutsumi.
With Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz due to fight Jose Valenzuela on August 3rd, interim WBA super lightweight champion Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KO) will make his first appearance since January opposite Andy Hiraoka (23-0, 18 KO). This is an incredibly overdue step up for Hiraoka after his 2021 knockout of Jin Sasaki (17-1-1, 16 KO), who also sees action against Qamil Balla (15-1-1, 8 KO)
