By Dan Ambrose: A badly bruised up Luis ‘Pantera’ Nery (34-1, 26 KOs) looked like a sight in calling out Naoya Inoue, referring to him as “Little Monster” following his grueling 11th round knockout win over Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan (21-4, 17 KOs) in their WBC super bantamweight title eliminator last Saturday night at the Fox Theater Pomona in Pomona, California.
Despite the fight being a title eliminator for the WBC 122-lb belt, the 28-year-old Nery chose to call out the belt-less Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs), who already has plans for challenging Fulton for his WBC/WBO titles next rather than one of the contenders.
Nery is going to have to get in line and wait his turn because he’s not going to get a shot at the Fulton vs. Inoue winner until the World Boxing Council orders it, and who knows how long that’ll take.
When you involve the WBC, it could take years, and even then, it’s hard to say for sure. Nery ends up waiting too long; he will get beaten and lose his turn.
It’s a bad sign that Nery struggled so badly against the 34-year-old ‘Crazy A’ Hovhannisyan last Saturday night. If Nery can’t dominate a fighter at this level, it suggests he doesn’t belong up there with the top guys at 122.
Nery was a good fighter when he fought at 118 from 2012 to 2018, but he hasn’t looked the same since moving up to 122. His power hasn’t transferred to this weight class, and he doesn’t react well to getting hit by the stronger fighters in this division.
“I thought it was a good fight. I got to fight his fight. I used my training, and I used my mindset. I was the one that controlled the fight, and I had the fight that I wanted,” said Luis Nery to Fighthype about his battle against Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan last Saturday night at the Fox Theater Pomona in Pomona, California.
“I trust my promoter Fernando Beltran, and I put my faith in him that he’ll make it happen when it has to happen,” Nery said when asked how soon he thinks he’ll get a title shot.
“I did a plan A, B & C, so that I could win this fight. I had a backup plan for anything that was thrown my way.
“I want the ‘Monster’ [Naoya Inoue],” Nery said when asked who he wanted to fight next. “He’s not the ‘Monster.’ He’s a little ‘Monster.‘ I want to take his mask off. I’m the real monster at 122.
“I see the fight 50% for each one,” Nery said when asked about his thoughts on the Inoue vs. Stephen Fulton fight.
“The opponent was perfect to make the fight of the year, and he was really tough, but we were very intelligent in the fight.
“I was surprised because I caught him with a lot of punches before the ninth. I caught him hard, but I always knew before the ninth round, he was going to go down,” said Nery about the 34-year-old Hovhannisyan.
“My experience, my preparation, my hard punching, and my training,” Nery said when asked if his experience carried him to victory.