TJ DOHENY IS set to face Danny Roman in a world-title unification bout this spring after the WBA waived the Californian’s mandatory defence to pave the way for a mouth-watering clash with the Portlaoise man.
Doheny, 31, defended his IBF World super-bantamweight title with an 11th-round TKO of Japanese foe Ryohei Takahashi at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden last month.
‘The Power’ took world honours with a close unanimous decision over Ryosuke Iwasa in Tokyo in August of 2018, becoming only the second fighter in history from Ireland or the UK — after Wayne McCullough — to become a world champion on Japanese soil.
After his first defence over Takahashi in New York, the Eddie Hearn and Matchroom-promoted Doheny [21-0, 15KOs] was approached in the ring by WBA champion Roman [26-2-1, 10KOs] with whom he amicably agreed to a showdown for two of the 122-pound world-title belts.
"Let's Fight!" 🤝@TjDoheny and Daniel Roman are READY to unify their Super Bantamweight World Titles. 🌎🏆 pic.twitter.com/U3HlUZNu7u
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) January 19, 2019
Roman was scheduled on paper to face WBA mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev but has instead been granted an exemption by the sanctioning body to square off with his Irish rival.
“The purse bid [for Roman-Akhmadaliev] is off,” Alex Camponovo, chief matchmaker for Thompson Boxing — Roman’s promoter — told BoxingScene. “An announcement [regarding Roman’s next fight] is coming soon.”
A fight between Matchroom’s Doheny and Golden Boy’s Roman is made all the easier to formulate due to Eddie Hearn and Oscar De La Hoya’s newly forged working relationship which has seen Golden Boy boxers join their Matchroom counterparts in fighting live on US streaming service DAZN.
Doheny-Roman would undoubtedly air both on DAZN across the Atlantic and on Sky Sports in Ireland and the UK.
The likely landing spot for what will be both fighters’ first unification clash is Roman’s hometown of Los Angeles on 6 April.
Doheny’s Matchroom stablemates Katie Taylor and Jono Carroll both have their own world-title showdowns on St Patrick’s weekend in Philadelphia.
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
