Naoya Inoue survives knockdown, KOs Luis Nery in six, retains undisputed 122-pound championship

Naoya Inoue suffered a stunning knockdown in the course of the opening spherical of his first protection of the undisputed junior featherweight championship on Monday contained in the Tokyo Dome, an nearly surreal scene that immediately gave boxing followers worldwide a flashback to Tyson-Douglas, however there could be no monumental upset on The Monster’s watch.

Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) acquired up on wobbly legs after getting nailed with a superbly timed left cross from Nery, the daring and battle-tested southpaw from Tijuana, and survived the spherical with an perspective. He would pay Nery again in Spherical 2, dropping The Ring’s No. 5-rated junior featherweight with a hook. Inoue, at the moment No. 2 in The Ring’s pound-for-pound rankings, dialed in with an influence jab and stinging one-two mixtures in Spherical 3, preserving Nery at arms’ size and holstering the Mexican’s offense.

By Spherical 4, Inoue was assured sufficient to showboat somewhat, play to the gang and taunt the challenger in entrance of a minimum of 40,000 followers. Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) took the punches however wasn’t returning hearth. That modified in Spherical 5, when the Mexican opened up and cast ahead, urgent Inoue to the ropes. And that’s all of the opening the four-division world titleholder wanted to land one other knockdown-producing left hook with 35 seconds left within the spherical.

Inoue went for the kill in Spherical 6, now not content material to play along with his meals. Backing weary trying Nery right into a nook Inoue unleashed a mix punctuated with a proper uppercut adopted by a proper cross that violently deposited the gutsy challenger to the canvas the place referee Michael Griffin waved the bout off at 1:22 of the spherical.

What started as a dramatic shootout turned a one-sided beating, but it surely was thrilling resulting from Inoue’s dynamic offense and Nery’s toughness. When the Fighter of the Yr faces the winner of the Combat of the Yr, we must always have anticipated leisure. Most anticipated revenge for Japanese boxing, as Nery was as soon as banned from combating within the nation resulting from controversial back-to-back knockouts of revered bantamweight champ Shinsuke Yamanaka in 2017 and 2018. Nery examined constructive for a banned substance after their first bout after which missed weight by three and half kilos for the rematch.

Regardless of the ugly previous, Inoue stated he revered Nery as a competitor throughout his post-fight interview.

So, what’s subsequent for The Monster? Sam Goodman, the necessary challenger for one of many 4 sanctioning physique belts that Inoue holds, was within the ring on the finish of his post-fight interview. Inoue stated he would like to battle the undefeated Australian, The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior featherweight, in September.

Goodman will likely be a fair larger underdog than Nery was, however that first spherical might have given him (and all the opposite high 122 and 126 pounders) hope.