In an all-out battle that certainly will probably be a contender for struggle of the 12 months honors, Luis Nery and Azat Hovhannisyan slugged it out with reckless abandon into the eleventh spherical earlier than Nery bought the stoppage victory in a WBC junior featherweight title eliminator on Saturday night time in the principle occasion of a Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN on the Fox Theater in Pomona, California.
WOW – large, large win for @luisnerynp in a BATTLE between two absolute warriors…
What. A. Combat.#NeryHovhannisyan | LIVE on @daznboxing pic.twitter.com/6uOIsBk2ld
— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) February 19, 2023
Nery, a former junior featherweight and bantamweight world titlist, who scored a Tenth-round knockdown, earned one other shot at a 122-pound title, changing into a compulsory challenger for unified titleholder Stephen Fulton.
“I really feel good. We knew it might be a tough struggle,” Nery mentioned via an interpreter. “We had a tough preparation for this one however we anticipated to get the victory. We anticipated a knockout. We knew it was gonna be a knockout. Azat is a troublesome fighter however we bought the knockout. It was good for the followers.”
It didn’t take lengthy to warmth up
It was a hard-hitting and thrilling struggle from the opening bell, simply as most anticipated it might be. There have been fixed bursts of toe-to-action and each fighters had been visibly rocked at varied instances within the struggle.
A left hand from Nery opened bloody reduce beneath Hovhannisyan’s proper eye within the third spherical.Within the fourth spherical, Hovhannisyan had Nery on shaky legs from a collection of photographs earlier than he rebounded with a dangerous mixture off the ropes, together with an uppercut, which rocked Hovhannisyan as they had been each damage within the remaining seconds.
Nery inflicted a second reduce on Hovhannisyan within the fifth spherical, opening a wound on his proper eyelid. The blood flowed however Hovhannisyan brushed it apart and continued to plow ahead.Spherical after spherical, they merely traded punishment with referee Ray Corona merely a spectator as a result of there was so little for him to do.
Each fighters had been shaken from the fixed blows within the brutal ninth spherical after which Nery (34-1, 26 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Mexico, lastly broke via within the Tenth spherical. He landed a left cross and a proper hand that wobbled Hovhannisyan earlier than one other left despatched him the mat with 40 seconds remaining for the one knockdown of the struggle.
Hovhannisyan smiled and bought to his knees earlier than rising at Corona’s depend of seven. Nery was throughout Hovhannisyan for the remainder of the spherical, forcing him to the ropes, the place he teed off. Hovhannisyan, referred to as “Loopy A” for his relentless model, barely managed to throw just a few punches again whereas Corona was proper on the verge of stopping it when the bell sounded to finish the spherical.
Hovhannisyan appeared OK because the eleventh spherical started and he landed some photographs and was approaching halfway via the spherical, however when Nery wobbled the bleeding Hovhannisyan with two left fingers, Corona stepped in and waved it off at 1 minute, 51 seconds to deliver an finish to the moment traditional
“We’re clearly dissatisfied the struggle didn’t prove the way in which we needed, but it surely’s boxing,” Hovhannisyan mentioned via an interpreter. “I assumed he was an excellent fighter earlier than and right now I feel he is a superb fighter. He received right now. That’s it.”
In accordance with CompuBox statistics, Nery landed 195 of 226 punches (33 %) and Hovhannisyan landed 210 of 688 (31 %).
Hovhannisyan (21-4, 17 KOs), 34, an Armenian based mostly in Los Angeles, noticed a seven-fight successful streak finish. He had not misplaced since a dropping a unanimous resolution difficult then-WBC junior featherweight titlist Rey Vargas in Might 2018.
Nery received his third struggle in a row since getting stopped within the seventh spherical with a physique shot and dropping the WBC junior featherweight title to Brandon Figueroa in Might 2021.
Figueroa misplaced the WBC belt to Fulton in a November 2021 unification struggle and Fulton is near finalizing a deal to defend the titles in opposition to Japanese pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue, who just lately vacated the undisputed bantamweight title to maneuver up in weight, in Japan within the early summer time.
Nery will probably be paying shut consideration to that struggle, assuming it’s finalized.
“I need Inoue, I need Fulton,” Nery mentioned. “I really feel prepared go for the world championship whether or not it’s with Fulton or with Inoue.”
Earlier than that struggle comes round, nevertheless, Nery took a second to understand the extraordinary storm he had simply weathered
“It was a conflict for everyone,” he mentioned. “We noticed the followers and we thank them.”
