Doheny fought well as anyone could have hoped as he feinted against Inoue effectively, and landed his straight left, and I even thought he won the third round but Inoue started to whack away at the body of the Australian in the fifth and sixth and near the end of round six, Doheny was visibly shaken by a body punch.
Doheny was driven to the ropes with another body punch in the seventh that turned him around and he immediately indicated he was fine with the stoppage due to either an injury to his back or foot, perhaps even both.
This was about what was expected in the optional title defense and promoter Bob Arum stated the plans for Inoue to have one more fight before the end of 2024.
Inoue does have two mandatories coming up, so it's likely to be either the WBA's top contender in former WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev or the IBF's leading challenger in Australia's Sam Goodman.
The co-feature was an excellent fight as Yoshiki Takei scraped by former WBC flyweight Daigo Higa with a razor-close unanimous decision to retain his WBO bantamweight title.
Takei controlled the early rounds with Higa dominating late, including an eleventh-round flash knockdown of the champion but with the fight on the line Takei won the final round and with it the fight.
Scores for the champion of 115-112 and 114-113 times two with my score of 114-113 for Higa.
The fight was so close and well-fought, a rematch would make sense.
In an untelevised fight at junior lightweight, Andy Hiroka stopped veteran Ismael Barroso in the ninth round of a WBA eliminator.
Boxing Challenge
Vince Samano: 65 Pts (5)
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