Japan’s Inoue to face Nery for super-bantamweight world titles

Tokyo (AFP): Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue on Wednesday promised a “white-hot fight” as he announced a title defence against Mexico’s Luis Nery at the Tokyo Dome on May 6.

The unbeaten Inoue, nicknamed “Monster”, will be back in action for the first time since beating Marlon Tapales of the Philippines in December to add the WBA and IBF titles to his own WBC and WBO belts.

The win made Inoue, the former undisputed bantamweight world champion, only the second man to unify all four world titles in two different weight classes, following American Terence Crawford.

His fight against Nery will be the first boxing match held at the Tokyo Dome since James “Buster” Douglas stunned undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in 1990.

The 30-year-old Inoue, who has a 26-0 record with 23 knockouts, said he was “highly motivated” to compete at the venue, which has a capacity of over 45,000.

“Luis Nery is a very strong fighter, so I will have to be at the top of my game,” Inoue told reporters at a Tokyo press conference, where he sat alongside Nery.

“It will be a white-hot fight.” The 29-year-old Nery has a 35-1 record, with 27 KOs. Nery was stripped of his bantamweight world title in 2018 after failing to make weight and also tested positive for a banned substance the previous year.

He was subsequently banned from fighting in Japan, but the country’s boxing commission last week gave him the green light to compete. Nery apologised to Japanese boxing authorities and said he was “happy to be back” in the country.

“I am very concentrated on my training,” he said.