By Francisco Salazar

INGLEWOOD - Danny Roman dropped TJ Doheny twice en route to an action-packed majority-decision victory.

With the win, Roman now holds the WBA and IBF junior featherweight world titles.

The fight was even on paper, but it exceeded expectations based on the action and the exciting ebb-and-flow exchanges throughout the fight.

Roman struck first during the second round, as a left hook to the chin droppedDoheny to the canvas.Doheny did not look visibly hurt and fought on.

The southpaw Doheny, who is originally from Ireland and now resides in Bondi Junction, Australia, closed the distance between the two fighters, ripping punches to the head and body. By the fifth round, there was bruising below Doheny’s right eye and he had to deal with blood coming out of his nose.

Just when Roman looked like he was in command of the fight, Doheny stunned Roman twice during the seventh round, landing thudding left hands to the head. Undaunted, Roman did enough to fight back and keep Doheny at distance.

Roman began to invest more to the body of Doheny, slowly breaking Doheny down. The investment to the body paid off as Roman dropped Doheny with a left hook to the body. Doheny beat the count, backing away from Roman until the round ended.

“TJ did connect and caught me good,” said Roman, who improves to 27-2-1, 10 KOs. “I knew when I connected to the body that he began to feel my punches.”

Doheny pressed forward during the final round, but his punches had little effect on Roman.

One judge unbelievably scored the bout 113-113, but the other two judges scored the bout 116-110 for Roman, who resides in the Los Angeles area.

Roman has won his last 19 bouts, dating back to October of 2013.

Doheny was diplomatic in defeat.

“Not only is Danny Roman a great fighter, but he’s an absolute gentleman,” said Doheny, who falls to 21-1, 15 KOs. “The plan was to come in and to be unified champion. That didn’t happen.

He kept working and working and broke me down. I can’t take anything away from Roman.”

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing