Luis Nery shines in Fight of the Year contender with Azat Hovhannisyan: Fulton-Inoue winner beckons for Pantera
It’s rare for a matchup heralded as a fight of the year contender to actually deliver on that promise, but that’s exactly what happened when Mexican Luis Nery made a spectacular 11th-round stop against Azat at Fox Theater Pomona, California Hovhannisyan scored.
Nery, who previously held the world bantamweight and super bantamweight titles, pitted his hard-hitting, cerebral southpaw finesse against Hovhannisyan’s breakneck aggression. The styles gelled perfectly and the fans in attendance had a classic encounter.
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Both fighters were injured multiple times. Armenia’s Hovhannisyan, known as ‘Crazy A’, suffered two facial injuries – both from punches – while Nery suffered a horrific physical injury in the second half of the competition.
However, it was Nery who had that little something extra. In the final minute of the 10th, the Tijuana native decided to fist with Hovhannisyan, hitting with a smash to the left of the chin that caused damage. The punch actually put a smile on Crazy A’s face, but it fooled no one – especially Nery.
While Hovhannisyan survived the session, the one-minute recovery time wasn’t enough. Nery, 28, held his own in round 11 and patiently awaited the opens. When two massive left hands landed flush on the jaw, the raging Hovhannisyan looked as gentle as a lamb and referee Ray Corona wisely stopped the fight.
This Ring Magazine-rated contenders bout (Nery entered at No. 6 while Hovhannisyan entered at No. 4) was a WBC super bantamweight eliminator. The current champion in this weight division is the prodigiously talented Stephen “Cool Boy” Fulton, who is expected to take on three-weight world champion Naoya Inoue in Japan in May.
“I want Inoue and I want Fulton,” said a confident Nery during his post-fight interview with DAZN. “I feel ready for the World Cup, whether it’s in Fulton or Inoue.
“We expected a knockout [over Hovhannisyan]. We knew it was going to be a KO. We knew Azat was a tough fighter but we got the knockout and that was good for the fans.”
Should Inoue defeat Fulton – far from guaranteed – there would be a small roadblock in terms of a fight between Inoue and Nery.
In 2018, Nery was banned for life by the Japan Boxing Commission for violations related to two world bantamweight title wins over Shinsuke Yamanaka. After the first fight – a fourth-round stoppage in August 2017 – it was revealed that Nery had failed a pre-fight drug test (banned substance Zilpaterol). Then, six months later, the Mexican weighed a full three pounds over the bantamweight limit and destroyed Yamanaka in the second round of the rematch.
Inoue-Nery would be a spectacular fight but the fact that it cannot be staged in Japan would have serious financial implications. Conclusion: It would be a much bigger fight in Japan than in the US or Mexico.
All of this is hypothetical, of course, as Fulton is extremely confident in taming The Monster. What a fight this will be.
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And what about Hovhannisyan? The Los Angeles-based Armenian put up an incredible fight last night and despite his fourth loss in 25 starts, his stock has risen dramatically. The only concern is the damage Nery has done to the former world title challenger. Crazy A is now 34 years old and being crazy at this level comes at a price.
“Well, of course we’re disappointed that the fight didn’t go the way we wanted, but that’s boxing,” Hovhannisyan said through a translator.
“We thought [Nery] used to be a good fighter and now he’s a great fighter. He won – that’s it.”
No matter what’s next for both men, fans will enjoy their return.