Naoya Inoue defends his undisputed super bantamweight championship against Luis Nery on May 6th at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The fight was announced last month, but Top Rank is announcing it again for some reason.
Unfortunately, many U.S. boxing fans won’t see this event live due to the early morning time on ESPN+. It starts at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT. East Coast fans likely won’t be up at 4 am to watch the card on ESPN+. The time is inconvenient for U.S fans.
A Less Than Ideal Match-Up
Perhaps Top Rank figured that U.S. fans wouldn’t be eager to see the event because Inoue chose Nery, a fighter who was knocked out recently. This is the wrong guy for Monster Inoue to be fighting if he wants to get U.S. fans excited about his May 6th event.
Put Inoue in with Luis Alberto Lopez, and you’ve got an American audience that would be more than willing to get up at 4:00 am to watch it.
Top Rank calls this “the biggest boxing event” Japan has ever seen. but it’s unclear why. Nery was already knocked out by Brandon Figueroa in 2021
. The undercard is a mixed bag for May 6th, with some okay fights, but nothing out of this world for it to be called the “biggest boxing event” in the history of Japan.
Undercard A Mixed Bag
- Jason “Mayhem” Moloney vs. Yoshiki Takei
- Takuma Inoue vs. Sho Ishida
Seigo Yuri Akui vs. Taku Kuwahara
It’s a decent scrap, but not the fight that fans wanted. Inoue is hoping back moving up featherweight after the tough time he had in his last fight against Marlon Taples.
The Lopez Factor
That was a grueling match for ‘Monster’ Inoue, so it’s not surprising that he’s decided to stay at 122 rather than go up to 126 and be expected to face Luis Alberto Lopez, Raymond Ford, Rey Vargas, and Robeisy Ramirez.
“Naoya Inoue is the world’s best fighter, a young man who amazes me whenever he enters the ring. Luis Nery is a tough challenger, but I fully expect Inoue to get the job done in front of more than 50,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum.
“In addition to this incredible main event, we have a spectacular undercard highlighted by Jason Moloney, a road warrior coming to Japan determined to show he’s the world’s best bantamweight.”
