By Jim Maltman: Former WBC bantamweight champion Luis ‘Pantera’ Nery and Aaron Alameda are off for their scheduled March 28 fight on Showtime at the Park Theater, in Las Vegas, Nevada. @MikeCoppinger is reporting that the fight is off as part of the events that have been suspended in Nevada as a move to minimize the threat from the coronavirus.
Nery (30-0, 24 KOs) was supposed to be moving up to super bantamweight to fae the unbeaten Alameda (25-0, 13 KOs) after campaigning at 118 the first eight years of his professional career. The move up to 122 was necessary for Nery after he failed to make weight for his scheduled fight against Emmanuel Rodriguez on November 23.
Nery and Rodriguez were supposed to be fighting on the undercard of Deontay Wilder vs. Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz 2 rematch. The fight was canceled after Nery weighed in a pound over the 118-lb limit, and Rodriguez chose not to go through with the fight.
This wasn’t the first time that Nery failed to make weight. He came in three pounds over the 118-lb limit at 121 lbs for his rematch against former WBC bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka in March 2018.
The fight went ahead but Nery lost his WBC title and wasn’t eligible to win it. He then subsequently stopped Yamanaka in the second round.
Not surprisingly, the Japanese fighter, his team and the World Boxing Council weren’t happy with Nery’s professionalism in failing to make weight. Yamanaka was at a huge disadvantage against the heavier Nery in that fight.
Besides hand-washing, Social distancing is considered the best way of preventing the spread of the coronavirus. By the Nevada Commission suspending combat sports events, it eliminates the potential for the illness to be spread from the crowds that attend the fights.
Last Saturday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has already suspended all combat-related events in until March 25 when they meet again. The suspension is expended to be extended.
While some boxing promoters appear to be abandoning their plans on staging fights in Nevada for the time being, UFC president Dana White is going to continue to find a way for him to stage his MMA events.
With the popularity of the UFC, he could take his events almost anywhere and they would bring in the fans. Losing out on fighting in Las Vegas for a period of time would be a negative, but he’s not going to give up putting his cards on.