Naoya Inoue vs Luis Nery sanctioned by Japan Boxing Commission
Japanese star Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is set to face former two weight world champion Luis Nery (35-1, 27 KOs) on May 6.
The Japan Boxing Commission have lifted the Mexican challenger’s ban, which was imposed due to his previous weight making and doping problems.
Now, Nery will enter the champion’s back yard, hoping that his experience will be enough to topple the hard hitting, undisputed super bantamweight king.
The 29-year-old won his first world title at bantamweight back in 2017, after defeating long reigning WBC titlist Shinsuke Yamanaka in Japan.
But Nery subsequently failed a VADA test – with traces of Zilpaterol detected within his system – and claimed that the positive finding was the result of food contamination.
Then, instead of serving a ban, Nery was ordered by the WBC to give Yamanaka an immediate rematch.
The Mexican came in three pounds over the bantamweight limit and, despite stopping Yamanaka in the second round of their 2018 rematch, he came away from Japan without the title.
It was not until 2020 when Nery won his second WBC strap, this time up at 122 lbs, but lost it in his following bout after a punishing seventh-round stoppage defeat to Brandon Figueroa in 2021.
Since then, Inoue’s next opponent has strung together four convincing wins, including one against Azat Hovhannisyan in a fight of the year contender which ended with a scintillating 11th-round knockout just over twelve months ago.
Inoue, meanwhile, comes off a 10th-round stoppage victory over tough Pilipino Marlon Tapales back in December last year.
This came after he dismantled former unified champ Stephen Fulton – whom many considered to be the division’s bogeyman – in an eight round demolition job last July, before adding two more titles to his collection.
‘The Monster’ aims to fight three times in 2024, even alluding to a move up to featherweight if the right opponents are there.