Japanese boxing star Naoya Inoue waked away with the win on May 6, when he faced Mexico’s Luis Nery at Tokyo Dome. Battling it out in the main event, “Monster” retained his undisputed super bantamweight title by way of knockout.
On his way to victory, Inoue suffered his first career knockdown, courtesy of Nery’s big left hand that reached the target in the opening round. In the second round the representing of the country-host paid back dropping his opponent with a left hook.
At the end of fifth round the champion sent the challenger down for the second time in the fight with a short left hook. In the following round, Inoue hurt and floored Nery for the third and final time with a right uppercut followed by a short right hand. The official time was at 1 minute and 22 seconds into the sixth round.
With the victory, Naoya Inoue made the first successful defense of his undisputed 122-pound title. The 31-year-old four-division world champion and two-weight undisputed king improved to 27-0, 24 KOs and remained undefeated.
“I appreciate Nery. That’s why I shook hands with him after the fight,” Naoya Inoue said post-win. The knockdown motivated me. I am thankful to have fought against a great fighter in Nery.”
“Thank you so much to everyone for witnessing my fight. There are over 40,000 people here in the Tokyo Dome. I promise that I will keep giving you fights that get you excited.”
Two-division world champion Luis Nery didn’t succeed in his attempt to once again land a world title. The 29-year-old dropped to 35-2, 27 KOs and got his four-fight winning streak snapped.
In the co-feature on the card, Japanese former kickboxing champion Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KOs) dethroned Australia’s Jason Moloney (27-3, 19 KOs) claiming his WBO bantamweight title by unanimous decision. The scores were 117-110 and 116-111 x2.
Among other results, Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs), younger brother of Naoya, retained his WBA bantamweight belt by unanimous decision against fellow-Japanese Sho Ishida (34-4, 17 KOs). The scores were 118-109, 118-109 and 116-111.
Plus, Japan’s WBA flyweight champion Seigo Yuri Akui (20-2-1, 11 KOs) successfully defended his strap by unanimous decision against compatriot Taku Kuwahara (13-2, 8 KOs). The scores were 118-110 and 117-111 x2.