Luis Nery and Azat Hovannisyan battled toe to toe for nearly 11 rounds. Picture by Cris Esqueda-Golden Boy Promotions
POMONA, Calif. – The conflict between Luis Nery and Azat Hovhannisyan had excessive expectations from followers and media primarily based on the chance of continuous motion between the 2 fighters. What occurred Saturday night time probably exceeded these expectations.
In an all-out struggle, Nery was capable of slowly break down Hovhannisyan, dropping him as soon as en path to a knockout win in spherical 11 earlier than a boisterous crowd on the Fox Theatre.
Nery, who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, improves to 34-1, 26 knockouts.
The combat between Nery and Hovhannisyan was a WBC junior featherweight title elimination bout.
After a feel-out opening spherical, each fighters let go of their fingers early within the second spherical, which might set the priority for the excessive quantity of punches each would throw all through the combat. A proper hand by Hovhannisyan caught Nery’s consideration, prompting Nery to instantly seize Hovhannisyan. Later within the second spherical, each let their fingers go, producing nice exchanges that introduced the gang out of their ft.
Nery’s punches that linked produced swelling round each eyes of Hovhannisyan by the third spherical. As Hovhannisyan would mount an offense, connecting punches to Nery’s head, Nery would reply, touchdown two-three punch combos to the pinnacle. Hovhannisyan smiled at Nery, acknowledging the punches did join, however they didn’t harm him.
Starting within the fourth spherical, Hovhannisyan started strolling Nery again in opposition to the ropes, connecting with a barrage of punches to the pinnacle. Late within the fifth spherical, Nery momentarily shocked Hovhannisyan with a mix to the pinnacle. Hovhannisyan attmpted to combat off the ropes, however Nery pummeled Hovhanisyan till the bell sounded to finish the spherical.
A punch probably induced a reduce alongside the proper eye of Hovhannisyan through the center rounds. Blood additionally started trickling out of the nostril of Hovhannisyan. The bruising and swelling have been targets that Nery stored throwing at, finally connecting with left fingers to the pinnacle of Hovhannisyan.
There have been nice exchanges through the seventh spherical, however Nery’s punches appeared more practical. Hovhannisyan started to indicate extra indicators of damage from the quantity of punches he was receiving. Simply when it appeared like Nery had the higher hand, Hovhannisyan linked with a sequence of proper fingers to the pinnacle in spherical eight that caught Nery’s consideration.
Hovhannisyan centered his assault to the physique through the second half of the combat, which paid off as Nery’s punch output dropped. Each fighters produced glorious exchanges through the ninth spherical, which might probably be a candidate for ‘Spherical of the 12 months.’
The quantity of punishment caught as much as Hovhannisyan as he was harm late through the tenth spherical. A mixture from Nery dropped Hovhannisyan to the canvas, though he did beat the rely and was capable of combat again off the ropes till the bell sounded to finish the spherical.
Hovhannisyan was doing effectively early through the eleventh spherical, throwing and touchdown to the pinnacle and physique. A sudden barrage by Nery shocked Hovhannisyan, prompting referee Ray Corona to step in and cease the combat at 1:51.
“I used to be stunned he took quite a lot of punches,” mentioned Nery after the combat. “He’s an astute fighter. By the ninth spherical, I knew he had been weakened by the quantity of punches he had acquired. He was not going to make it to the tip of the twelfth spherical.
Nery turns into the obligatory challenger to the winner of the Stephen Fulton-Naoya Inoue combat, which is penciled for Might or June.
The southpaw Nery sees that combat as a 50-50 combat, however he would like to combat Inoue.
“I’m the actual monster of 122 kilos, not him,” mentioned Nery, who’s promoted by Fernando Beltran.
Hovhannisyan, who’s initially from Yerevan, Armenia and now resides in Los Angeles, drops to 21-4, 17 KOs. He challenged then-WBC world junior featherweight titleholder Ray Vargas in Might 2018, dropping by choice.
The 34-year-old had received his earlier seven fights.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has coated boxing in Southern California and overseas since 2000. Francisco additionally covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He might be reached at [email protected]
Observe @FSalazarBoxing
