CHALLENGER TJ DOHENY and champion Ryosuke Iwasa have both weighed in under the 122-pound limit for their IBF World super-bantamweight title clash in Tokyo tomorrow (9am Irish time, 5pm local time).
We have a fight ladies and gents! pic.twitter.com/MF28TcGOwv
— TJ Doheny (@TjDoheny) August 15, 2018
Portaloise’s Doheny [19-0, 14KOs] tipped the scales at 122 on the button, while home fighter Iwasa [25-2, 16KOs] came in a quarter of a pound under.
The 31-year-old ‘Power’ emigrated to Australia a decade ago having become disillusioned with boxing following consecutive defeats to John Joe Nevin which cost him a place at the Beijing Olympics.
Were Doheny to beat Iwasa in his own backyard, he would become only the second fighter from Ireland or the UK to win a world title on Japanese soil, and a first since Wayne McCullough in 1995.
He would also join the greatest Irish boxer of all time, Jimmy McLarnin, as the only fighter from this island to become a world champion without ever having fought on home soil.
Away from the spotlight and thousands of miles away from his homeland, Portlaoise's TJ Doheny has carved a chance to achieve something only one boxer from Ireland or the UK has ever done before. https://t.co/pHvAYfOD6L
— The42.ie (@The42_ie) August 11, 2018
Iwasa has twice been beaten by southpaws, on both occasions inside the distance.
Doheny, a lefty himself, highly fancies his chances of mowing down the rangy Japanese stylist at the 2,000-capacity Korakuen Hall tomorrow.
The fight is seen as a pick ‘em contest by the few bookmakers offering a market: Doheny is currently evens with Paddy Power to raise the IBF strap while Iwasa is a 5/6 favourite, but those odds were exactly reversed as recently as yesterday.
The pair’s title fight is to be streamed live on ESPN+ in the States, a subscription service which isn’t currently available in Ireland through conventional means.
