Doheny takes the IBF super bantamweight title from Iwasa in Japan
TJ Doheny becomes a champion in his first attempt at a world title.
Ryosuke Iwasa was making the second defense of the title and started well even against intense pressure by the challenger.
The early rounds were close as the champion was able to avoid some wild shots while countering. He Inflicted a deep cut under the eye of Doheny by the end of the second round.
By the middle rounds, Doheny’s relentless pressure and body shots started to take its toll. Despite suffering two deep cuts, the challenger wasn’t going to let that deter him.
As the busier fighter he was able to out-jab the taller champion. Keeping the pressure on and never letting the champion gain momentum from rounds six-nine.
Iwasa was able to mount a comeback landing good accurate punches in rounds ten-eleven.
At this point, it could be said the twelfth round would be the deciding factor for the winner.
It was a very close round. Iwasa picked up where he left off from rounds ten an eleven. Meanwhile, Doheny continues to jab his way inside in order to dig to the body.
This resulted in all three judges calling the fight for Doheny (scorecards pictured below).
The controversy appears from the recorded punch stats. However, unbeknownst to most boxing fans, punch-stats are not a criterion of how an official scorecard is generated.
Doheny landed overall 159 of 604 (26%) and 97 of 362 (27%) power shots
Iwasa landed overall 143 of 485 (29%) and 105-281 (37%) power shots
The 31 year old southpaw remains undefeated and becomes the third reigning Irish world champion joining Ryan Burnett and Katie Taylor.
By: Garrisson “Bo” Bland
