Former WBC Super Bantamweight world champion, Mexican Luis Nery, showed himself to be ready for a world title opportunity again after knocking out 122 lbs contender, Armenian Azat Hovhannisyan – who was never even knocked down prior to his KO loss – in the eleventh round. The match was held on Saturday, February 18, at the Pomona Fox Theater in California.
The fight was competitive early on. Both fighters kept up an incredibly high tempo as they engaged with one another with similar styles. The early slip Nery (34-1, 26 KO’s) suffered in the first round set the pace of the match as the two would go on to often engage and switch between pressuring their opponents, and being pressured.
Neither of the fighters seemed to take a clear lead as the two went back and forth, even when Azat Hovhannisyan (21-4, 17 KO’s) suffered a cut in the third round. Prior to the eleventh road, Azat seemed to have landed the more power punches, while Nery seemed to be the faster and more efficient fighter judging by the total amount of punches thrown.
In the 10th round, Nery seemed to have the bigger gas tank remaining as he stunned Azat with a set of body shots, the last of which sent Azat stumbling down to the floor, thus suffering the first knockdown of his career. The 11th round seemed like a mere formality compared to the previous rounds as Azat pushed forward in a brave but ultimately futile effort to finish Nery, but the match was stopped with nearly a minute remaining when the referee stepped in after Azat suffered several unanswered shots.
Though the fight was ruled a knockout win for Nery due to the California State Athletic Commission rules, the win should have been deemed a stoppage victory for Nery instead. Nevertheless, it was Nery who was the one that deservedly won after a tight and close contest that saw the two Super Bantamweights show the best of their ability.
With Luis Nery, 28, previously losing his WBC title to Brandon Figueroa (23-1-1, 18 KO’s) in a unification clash in 2021, he is now on the brink of another title opportunity after his victory against one of the best in the division. He now faces strong competition in whatever route he chooses in the division, with the division now home to two unified champions in Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8 KO’s) and Stephen Fulton – both undefeated, The latter may even be succeeded by the Bantamweight division’s former undisputed champion and current pound-for-pound ranked fighter, Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KO’s), if Fulton loses to Japanese superstar.
