The super bantamweight world champion (-55.338 kg), the Japanese Naoya Inoue (31 years old, 1.65 m, 26 wins, including 23 before the limit, 0 defeats) meets his official challenger, the Mexican left-hander Luis Nery (29 years, 35 w ., including 27 before the deadline, 1 d.), Monday in Tokyo (TV: live on RMC Sport 1 from 10:00, Inoue-Nery around 13:00).
The meeting takes place at the Tokyo Dome (55,000 seats!) which has only hosted boxing twice, two world heavyweight championships by the American Mike Tyson in 1988 (victory over his compatriot Tony Tubbs) and 1990 (defeat to James Douglas).
Inoue is the only current world champion, along with Mexican super middleweight Saul Alvarez, to hold all four world titles (WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF), a feat he has already achieved at bantamweight (-53.524 kg).
“He’s a fantastic young man and one of the greatest fighters I’ve ever seendeclared his promoter, American Bob Arum, to BoxingScene.com. What he shows is scary. He pulverizes very good opponents. I’ve never seen a fighter of his size perform like him. Inoue is truly special. He is as special to boxing as [la star japonaise] Shohei Ohtani is for baseball. I am honored to play a role in his career. »
An idol in Japan
Professional since October 2012, after a short amateur career (eighth finalist at the 2011 World Championships at -49 kg), Inoue has gradually become a real idol in Japan, constantly moving up the category. The famous American monthly magazine The ring ranks him as the second best current boxer, behind American welterweight Terence Crawford, but ahead of Ukrainian heavyweights Alexandre Usyk and Alvarez.
Inoue, who has only competed in world championships since 2014 (Monday’s will be his 22nd), became the WBC light flyweight champion (-48,988 kg) and WBO super flyweight champion (-52,163 kg), before unifying the bantamweight and super bantamweight- the titles.
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