Inoue Vs. Nery On May 6: Nery Touches Down In Japan

Luis Nery Touches Down In Japan For “Monster” Fight, Says Inoue “Isn’t P4P Superior To Crawford Or Davis”

Mexico’s Luis Nery has showed up for work quite early in Japan. Ahead of his May 6 challenge of super-bantamweight king Naoya Inoue, Nery has touched down in Tokyo, Nery arriving yesterday afternoon local time. And Nery sure is talking nothing but a great and confident fight ahead of his date with “The Monster.”

Nery, 35-1(27) has said numerous times that he is not in any way scared or intimidated by Inoue, 26-0(23), with Nery actually going as far as to say he believes Inoue is “overrated,” and “ordinary.” Nery may well exit the ring inside the huge Tokyo Dome feeling differently, but we have an interesting fight to look forward to here. Nery is tough, he can punch and take a punch, and he has evidently been working hard for this fight already, with reports saying Nery is currently weighing around 127 pounds, this just five pounds above the weight limit he must make. It seems there will be no blowing the weight in this fight!

Nery spoke with Japanese media upon arriving in Tokyo, and he stated how he doesn’t believe Inoue in the top pound-for-pound fighter today. In fact, Nery has two guys he ranks above Inoue in the mythical ratings we all love so much.

“I don’t believe Naoya, in the pound-for-pound ratings, is superior to Terence Crawford or Gervonta Davis,” Nery said. “I’m fully aware that Inoue is an excellent boxer, but I’m not scared of fighting him. I’ll knock him out and win the belts from him.”

Of course, Nery is far from the first fighter to make such a bold prediction, yet so far, no man has really come anywhere close to beating Inoue, much less knocking him out. Inoue, whether he is your pick for the top dog at pound-for-pound or not (for what it’s worth, Inoue, a unified champ with four belts in two weight divisions, is my pick), cannot be looked at as anything but a modern day great.

What weaknesses has Inoue got? Name just one? Nery clearly thinks he sees some weaknesses in Inoue but he hasn’t told us what they are. Southpaw Nery, like the other warriors to have challenged Inoue, will give it his all, we hope at least, but can you really see him pulling off the upset? Inoue is in his prime, he can seemingly do it all, and he is fighting at home to boot. And Nery, who is currently listed as a 9/1 dog, has been stopped before, by Brandon Figueroa back in 2021.

Nery faces a real challenge here. But he does seem to be up for it.