'The Monster:' Naoya Inoue isn't spectacular but doesn't need to be in odd seventh-round TKO of outgunned T.J. Doheny

It says much about what 31-year-old Naoya Inoue has accomplished in his boxing career that when he scores a seventh-round stoppage of a former world champion after winning nearly every round that there is widespread disappointment.

Inoue stopped veteran T.J. Doheny 16 seconds into the seventh round on Tuesday at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, to successfully retain the undisputed super bantamweight championship and improve his record to 28-0 with his 25 knockout. Inoue hit Doheny with a left to the body early in the seventh and Doheny turned and limped away.

His adviser, Sean Gibbons, said that Doheny took a body shot near the end of the sixth round that caused the damage. 

"At the end of the [sixth] round, he got hit on the back side there, and he turned and got up and felt his leg was dead," Gibbon said of Doheny. "He just had nothing. Pain was shooting all the way down his leg. You can question what you want. I didn't see where it landed, but the guy's a tough, tough competitor. He ain't never quit in his life."

That's the brilliance of Inoue. In his 23rd consecutive world championship fight in only his 28th bout as a pro, he appeared to be working on things against Doheny and didn't score the incredible finish many had hoped for and, honestly, were expecting to see. Inoue was a -6500 favorite, giving him better than a 98 percent implied win probability.

Doheny fought a tactical fight, not engaging the hard-hitting Inoue and trying to slow the pace. It worked insofar as he didn't get dropped or take any of the clean, fast powerful shots fans have been accustomed to seeing from Inoue since he burst onto the world stage a decade ago. 

Inoue, who has won titles in four weight classes and unified at both bantamweight and super bantamweight, stalked Doheny for most of the fight. His best work was to the body, which is hardly surprising since Inoue may be the sport's best body puncher since Hall of Fame Mike McCallum was in his heyday in the mid-to-late 1980s.

He said, "Boxing is not easy," in a way to explain his performance, but there was no reason to explain it away. Doheny entered the bout with a 26-4 record and having won by TKO in his last three bouts, none of which lasted longer than four rounds. 

Doheny wasn't expected to win so the resistance he put up made it seem as if Inoue had somehow failed. Now, great fighters often rise to the occasion and there is little question that Inoue is one of the greatest small men in boxing history. Few have ever dominated the classes from 122 on down the way he has done.

He's a complete fighter and showed that Tuesday via his patience and his defense. He took what Doheny gave him but when he sensed the fight had gone long enough, he stepped up the pace with a withering body assault in the sixth. According to CompuBox, Inoue had a 32-10 edge in total punches landed in the sixth, including a 30-9 edge in power shots. 

The punches to the body aren't as spectacular as the ones to the head, which cause knockdowns and for fighters to stagger around the ring as the crowd roars. But Doheny's actions at the start of the seventh, when he raised his hand in surrender and limped away from the battle, showed the impact they had.

It's why they call him 'The Monster," and he indeed is a frightening fighting machine. 

Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank said Inoue will defend his titles in Tokyo later this year and then will fight in Las Vegas in 2025 in what Arum said "will be a big celebration."