Here is all you need to know ahead of Monday’s lunchtime fight between undisputed world champion Naoya Inoue and Mexico’s Luis Nery at the Tokyo Dome, Japan, live on Sky Sports.
When, where and how?
Inoue looks to extend his undefeated professional record and bolster his case for pound-for-pound greatness when he defends his WBC, WBO, IBF and WBA junior featherweight titles against former two-weight world champion Nery.
It arrives as a Monday lunchtime treat for British fight fans, with coverage underway live on Sky Sports Action from 9am before the main event ring walk at approximately 12.15pm.
Watch ringside footage as Naoya Inoue produced an explosive stoppage of Stephen Fulton to become a four-division world champion. Credit: Top Rank
It kicks off a bumper week of boxing action live on Sky, with Lauren Price set to challenge for a world title for the first time in her professional career when the Olympic champion fights Jessica McCaskill in Cardiff on Saturday, May 11.
Elsewhere down under, the great Vasiliy Lomachenko will take on George Kambosos for the vacant IBF lightweight world title in Perth, Australia on May 12.
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Naoya Inoue’s professional record
- Age: 31
- Height: 5’5.5″
- Total fights: 26
- Records: 26-0 (23 KOs)
Luis Nery’s professional record
- Age: 29
- Height: 5’5″
- Total fights: 36
- Records: 35-1 (27 KOs)
Highlights of the WBC & WBO super-bantamweight title clash between Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue from Tokyo, Japan.
What do I need to know about the fighters?
Inoue has established himself as one of world boxing’s most dominant figures while compiling a 26-0 record, including 23 victories by way of knockout. The Japanese star is ranked No 2 behind Terence Crawford on the pound-for-pound list, having held world titles in four weight classes as just the second man behind Crawford to be an undisputed champion in two classes during the four-belt era.
He enters the clash on the back of a 10th-round knockout victory over Marlon Tapale last December to become undisputed super bantamweight champion, following up his victory over former unified champion Stephen Fulton earlier in the year.
Naoya Inoue has devastating power in both hands and once he gets you hurt there is no way back!
Nery comes in with an impressive record of 35-1 including 27 victories by knockout, the latest of which saw him stop Froilan Saludar in the second round last July. His sole career defeat came at the hands of Brandon Figueroa in 2021 when he suffered a seventh-round knockout against the American.
The 29-year-old has fought in Japan twice before, notably failing a drugs test after beating Shinsuke Yamanaka in 2017 – his positive result put down to contaminated food – and winning the subsequent rematch after missing weight a year later.
Naoya Inoue produced another destructive performance to dispatch Marlon Tapale’s last time out
Who is on the undercard?
The undercard action will see Australia’s WBO bantamweight champion Jason Maloney (27-2, 19 KOs) defend his title against former kickboxing world champion Yoshiki Takei (8-0, 8 KOs).
WBA bantamweight world champion Takuma Inoue (19-1, 5 KOs), younger brother of Naoya, will meanwhile put his title on the line against Sho Ishida (34-3, 17 KOs).
WBA flyweight world champion Seigo Yuri Akui (19-2-1, 11 KOs) also faces Taku Kuwahara (13-1, 8 KOs) in a rematch of their 2021 clash, which saw the former emerge victorious after a 10th-round stoppage.
Can anybody slay boxing’s Monster?
Sky Sports’ Cam Hogwood…
He’s diminutive, and so very towering. Quiet, and yet so very loud. He’s a little bit fast, a little bit frightening, a little bit mysterious, a little bit good. He fights on Boxing Day and random weekdays. His supremacy is missed by some, and yet championed as greatness by others.
Naoya Inoue might be the most dangerous man on the planet. His dominance might also slip through the mainstream net far too often, far too easily.
Rarely does he or his excellence venture outside of his Japanese fortress – only four times, in fact. There he is a God, to challenge whom hopeful warriors travel long and far, only to be mercilessly slain by boxing’s real-life Monster.
In Nery comes a willing combatant with a fearless belligerence that will empower him to go toe-to-toe with Inoue. He is a capable contender, but will arrive in Tokyo to be greeted by a different kind of talent. Nobody has threatened Inoue; nobody has come close to threatening Inoue, no matter how qualified. Nery, for all his attributes, is merely the next in line.
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