Naoya Inoue, the reigning super bantamweight world champion from Japan, maintained his winning streak after overcoming an early knockout to defeat Mexico’s Luis Nery in the sixth round of the fight at the Tokyo Dome on Monday.
The hit, witnessed by 45,000-plus spectators at the iconic venue, stated on a wrong footing as Nery rested ‘Monster’ Inoue in the opening round with a left.
The undefeated Japanese boxing sensation, however, bounced back to defeat his rival with two more significant blowdowns in the second and fifth rounds before closing the battle with a right hook in the sixth.
Last night’s event was Tokyo Dome’s first boxing action since the historic upset by James “Buster” Douglas to defeat Mike Tyson in February 1990.
The Monday night’s victory extended Inoue’s winning run to 27-0 with 24 knockouts. Inoue seized undisputed super bantamweight world champion just last December. In the four-belt era, the Japanese fighter can only be compared to American Terence Crawford, who won first in two different weights class at Welterweight and Light Welterweight.
In a spectacular entry into the boxing hall, Inoue entered the ring in the company of all four championship belts. A fan’s reception accompanied him and expected him to sail through Nery. However, the fight was more systems test as Nery presented a competition and knocked Inoue before the heavyweight champion regained his confidence in the ring in modesty.
Nery’s score dropped to 35-2 after the battle. Despite his record as a two-division world champion, the Nery fight marked his return to Japan since he was disqualified for a world title fight two years ago due to overweight charges.
The Japanese banned him temporarily from their competition but allowed him to face Inoue on the rings, and the few spectator cheered him.
Over the years, Naoya’ s entry into super bantamweight was justified by a clean sweep last year, and Nery could not meet the cut last night. Japan also scored a crucial win in bantamweight as Yoshiki Takei clinched the WBO Bantamweight World Champion, which Florence capped off with Moloney, an Australian, by unanimous decision.