By Mike Smith: Former World Boxing Council bantamweight champion Luis Nery (27-0, 21 KOs) will be fighting this Saturday night against replacement opponent Renoel Pael (23-8-1, 12 KOs) in Saltillo, Mexico.
Nery, 23, was supposed to be fighting Carlos Jorge Luis Sardinez (13-1, 2 KOs), but he couldn’t take the fight for some unknown reason.
This will be Nery’s second fight since coming off of suspension for failing to make weight for his rematch against former WBC 118 lb champion Shinsuke Yamanaka last March. Nery came in three lbs over the bantamweight limit at 121 lbs for the fight. He then preceded to knockout the 37-year-old Yamanaka in the 2nd round in an even easier fight than his first match against the Japanese fighter in August of 2017.
Nery knocked out Yamanaka in the 4th round in the first match. In the rematch, Nery would have knocked Yamanaka out in lightning fashion no matter what weight he came in. Nery didn’t show any respect for Yamanaka’s power in the second fight. That’s the reason why it was so easy for Nery to knock Yamanaka out. He didn’t wait around until the 4th round to go on the attack like he’d done in the first fight.
Nery looked as good as always in his last fight, stopping a game but limited Jason Canoy in the 3rd round on October 6 at the Gasmart Stadium, in Tijuana, Mexico. Nery dropped Canoy twice in the fight in knocking him down in round one and three before it was finally halted. The good news is Nery made weight for the Canoy fight.
At 23, Nery might be the best fighter in the bantamweight division today. While some boxing fans believe that Naoya Inoue is the best, it’s hard to look passed Nery as being the legitimate number one in the bantamweight division.
Pael, 28, has lost four out of his last six fights since 2017. Pael is obviously a flawed fighter, and likely not come out on the winning side on Saturday. The one positive that the Filipino brawler has is his ability to take punishment. Pael has never been knocked down before during his seven-year pro career, and he’s been in with the likes of Andrew Moloney. Pael has never fought anyone like Nery before, so there’s a very good chance that he’s still going to be knocked out on Saturday night. The southpaw Nery hits very hard, he’s lightning fast, and explosive. Pael has won his last two fights beating Anthony Galigao (8-12) and Royder Lloyd Borbon (5-4-1). That might explain why Pael beat them.