Doheny’s name will soon be in lights

STRETCHING back to 1887 when Cork native Jack McAuliffe knocked out Canadian Harry Gilmore to become the world lightweight champion, 22 different fighters from this island have stood at the summit of professional boxing. Some, such as Katie Taylor and Barry McGuigan, have been afforded the status of national treasures. Others, like Jimmy McLarnin and Carl Frampton, were considered good enough to be at the top of pound-forpound rankings. Few, if any, had as low a profile as TJ Doheny. Along with Taylor, the Portlaoise pugilist is one of only two current Irish world champions, but most of the public are unaware of the existence of the IBF super-bantamweight champion. That may change tonight as he makes his first world title defence against Japan’s Ryohei Takahashi in the iconic Madison Square Garden, Doheny’s first bout as part of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom stable, which will be live on Sky Sports. With an astute promoter like Hearn now guiding him, Doheny’s story should reach a wider audience. It deserves to. In December 2017, he travelled to Bangkok and defeated local hero Mike Tawatchai in an IBF title eliminator. That afforded him the title shot. In August he went to Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, where champion Ryosuke Iwasa had never lost, and boxed so well that he was given the decision on Japanese soil. ‘It’s a real Rocky story,’ Doheny admitted earlier this week. ‘It has been a long road, a hard road, but it has made me the fighter that I am. I have had to earn everything I got,’ Doheny explained to this newspaper last year. After tonight in Madison Square Garden, more people will become aware of the story behind Ireland’s 22nd world champion.