Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) continued to say his dominance within the tremendous bantamweight division with a stoppage of Luis Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) on Monday.
Inoue acquired the technical knockout at 1:22 of spherical six. With the victory, he stays the undisputed champion of the division. The 2 fighters met within the headliner of an occasion on the Tokyo Dome. Combat followers in the US caught the motion dwell on ESPN+, whereas these in the UK and Eire might accomplish that on Sky Sports activities.
With a complete of 5 bouts on the cardboard (4 of these have been world title fights), a lot was realized. Whereas the vast majority of consideration went to the principle occasion, the undercard was additionally noteworthy. Massive Combat Weekend presents the 5 issues we learnt from watching the Inoue-Nery card.
Naoya Inoue vs. Luis Nery: 5 Issues We Learnt
It Is Going to Take a Lot Extra Than a Knockdown to Defeat Naoya Inoue
Nery had one of the best opening spherical he might hope for. Combating for undisputed standing in his opponent’s yard in entrance of tens of hundreds in attendance. After which he turns into the primary individual to knock down Inoue within the skilled ranks. As good of a first-round Nery had, it solely acquired worse for him from there. Inoue dominated all the following rounds en path to victory. It goes to indicate that it’ll take much more than knocking Inoue right down to defeat him.
Like 118, Like 122
As was the case when he fought at bantamweight, it seems that there’s genuinely nobody at 122 lbs who might defeat Inoue. Since transferring up in weight, the Japanese fighter has fought three of one of the best fighters at Tremendous Bantamweight and scored knockouts over all of them. If there’s somebody who can defeat Inoue, they don’t seem to be at 122.
Title Bout in Ninth Combat? No Downside
Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KOs) turned the bantamweight world champion with a unanimous choice win over Jason Moloney (27-3, 19 KOs). The brand new titleholder outboxed his opponent over 12 rounds to win the WBO belt. Whereas Takei does have loads of fight expertise (because of his time as a kickboxer), turning into world champion in 9 skilled boxing bouts remains to be spectacular. He stays a fighter to maintain an eye fixed out for and is a part of a bunch of Japanese boxers who’ve taken over bantamweight since Inoue moved up.
Japanese Boxing Is in a Nice Spot
Japanese fighters have been concerned in all 4 title bouts on Might 6, two of which have been all-Japanese affairs. Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs) and Seigo Yuri Akui (20-2-1, 11 KOs) are simply two of many world champions from Japan. Each Inoue and Akui confronted sport opponents however have been capable of come out on prime ultimately. Whereas neither man has the extent of recognition that Naoya has, they’re among the many many representatives of a technology of Japanese boxers who are at present stamping their authority in boxing.
TJ Doheny Nonetheless Has It
He could not have been a part of the printed, however TJ Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) has been on a roll as of late. He’s unbeaten in three fights with all wins coming by stoppage, two of which have been towards unbeaten fighters. Since dropping to Sam Goodman in March 2023, Doheny has been coming to Japan for fights – with nice success. Given that he’s 37 years previous, it’s good to see the previous tremendous bantamweight champion take pleasure in this type of success at a time when many both retire or take into account it.
