Daniel Roman and TJ Doheny engaged in a 12-round war that was almost too close to call.
But in the end, it was Roman who came out victorious with a majority decision (116-110, 116-110, 113-113) victory to unify the WBA and IBF super bantamweight titles. The action-packed battle, which served as the co-main event of the April 26 Matchroom Boxing card at The Forum, was streamed on DAZN.
The first five minutes of the fight had Doheny land quick jabs and body shots and was starting to take control of the fight. Roman reversed his fortunes with a quick left hook that dropped Doheny late in the second round.
As the fight progressed, Roman’s punches started to take a toll on Doheny’s face, causing it to swell and bleed from the nose. Roman and Doheny continued to trade punches, but Doheny dealt several left hooks upstairs to Roman in round seven, nearly knocking him down. What followed was a back-and-forth fight in the second half where each man got their chance to land heavy shots.
In round 9, Roman landed a left uppercut that caused Doheny’s legs to buckle hard and nearly had a knee and glove touch the canvas. At the end of the round, Roman got a big body shot in on Doheny once more, hurting him to the point where he was affected in the 10th round. Roman started to run away with the fight in the championship rounds with combinations to the body, dropping him in the 11th round thanks to a left hook to the ribs. Doheny got back up and valiantly fought back, but was unable to come back and win the fight.
A 12-Round Thriller. #RomanDoheny pic.twitter.com/hbHnq4XRny
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) April 27, 2019
Roman held the WBA title since 2017, but was originally the organization's "Regular" champion after stopping Shun Kubo in the ninth round of their title bout in Japan. When Guillermo Rigondeaux was stripped of his "Super" title by the WBA, Roman was elevated to full world champion. Roman entered the unification bout having successfully defended his title three times in 2018.
Doheny's world title reign started back in August 2018 when he traveled to Japan and defeated Ryosuke Iwasa by unanimous decision. Since then, Doheny signed with Matchroom Boxing and made his first title defense this past January in Madison Square Garden where he stopped Ryohei Takahashi in the 11th round.
