Naoya Inoue survives knockdown, KOs Luis Nery in six, retains undisputed 122-pound championship

Naoya Inoue suffered a shocking knockdown during the opening round of his first defense of the undisputed junior featherweight championship on Monday inside the Tokyo Dome, an almost surreal scene that instantly gave boxing fans worldwide a flashback to Tyson-Douglas, but there would be no monumental upset on The Monster’s watch.

Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) got up on wobbly legs after getting nailed with a perfectly timed left cross from Nery, the bold and battle-tested southpaw from Tijuana, and survived the round with an attitude. He would pay Nery back in Round 2, dropping The Ring’s No. 5-rated junior featherweight with a hook. Inoue, currently No. 2 in The Ring’s pound-for-pound rankings, dialed in with a power jab and stinging one-two combinations in Round 3, keeping Nery at arms’ length and holstering the Mexican’s offense.

By Round 4, Inoue was confident enough to showboat a little, play to the crowd and taunt the challenger in front of at least 40,000 fans. Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) took the punches but wasn’t returning fire. That changed in Round 5, when the Mexican opened up and forged forward, pressing Inoue to the ropes. And that’s all the opening the four-division world titleholder needed to land another knockdown-producing left hook with 35 seconds left in the round.

Inoue went for the kill in Round 6, no longer content to play with his food. Backing weary looking Nery into a corner Inoue unleashed a combination punctuated with a right uppercut followed by a right cross that violently deposited the gutsy challenger to the canvas where referee Michael Griffin waved the bout off at 1:22 of the round.

What began as a dramatic shootout became a one-sided beating, but it was thrilling due to Inoue’s dynamic offense and Nery’s toughness. When the Fighter of the Year faces the winner of the Fight of the Year, we should have expected entertainment. Most expected revenge for Japanese boxing, as Nery was once banned from fighting in the country due to controversial back-to-back knockouts of respected bantamweight champ Shinsuke Yamanaka in 2017 and 2018. Nery tested positive for a banned substance after their first bout and then missed weight by three and half pounds for the rematch.

Despite the ugly past, Inoue said he respected Nery as a competitor during his post-fight interview.

So, what’s next for The Monster? Sam Goodman, the mandatory challenger for one of the four sanctioning body belts that Inoue holds, was in the ring at the end of his post-fight interview. Inoue said he would love to fight the undefeated Australian, The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior featherweight, in September.

Goodman will be an even bigger underdog than Nery was, but that first round may have given him (and all the other top 122 and 126 pounders) hope.

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