Showdowns with Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue have for years remained in the sights of Luis Nery.
A major step in that direction was taken by the former two-division titlist following his eleventh-round stoppage of streaking contender Azat Hovhannisyan. Their Fight of the Year-level slugfest saw Nery surge ahead late, complete with a tenth-round knockdown before he closed the show one round later.
Immediately thereafter came the reminder of what he was fighting for.
“It’s simple. I want Inoue. I want Fulton,” Nery insisted of his immediate goals.
Nery (34-1, 26KOs) is in prime position to make that demand. The win over Hovhannisyan (21-4, 17KOs) was a WBC junior featherweight title eliminator, which left the Tijuana southpaw as the mandatory challenger to Fulton (21-0, 8KOs) who holds the WBC and WBO 122-pound titles.
It didn’t come easy, as Nery and Hovhannisyan fought through fatigue and a hailstorm of power shots.
“We knew it was going to be a hard fight,” noted Nery. “We were well prepared for a war. We expected and knew it was going to be a knockout and wanted to deliver for the fans.”
Nery did just that, as the fight has drawn universal accolades. It also produced his third straight victory after he lost the WBC junior featherweight title to Brandon Figueroa via seventh-round knockout in May 2021.
A stay-busy fight will likely come next for Nery, who also previously held the WBC bantamweight ttile. An immediate shot at the title is not realistic, as Fulton will next defend his WBC and WBO titles versus Inoue (24-0, 21KOs) in a highly anticipated pound-for-pound showdown later this spring.
It goes without question that he will make himself available for the winner.
“I feel ready to challenge for the championship, whether it’s Fulton or Inoue,” stated Nery.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox