Super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue 26-0 (23) says he is ready to fight Luis ‘Pantera’ Nery 35-1 (27) at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on May 6.
Naoya Inoue has been named the winner of the Sugar Ray Robinson Award as the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Year, becoming the first Japanese boxer to win the prestigious prize.
The 57,000 seat indoor baseball stadium in the suburb of Bunkyo hosted its first boxing show in 1988 when undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson successfully defended his WBC, WBA and IBF belts against Tony Tubbs by second-round knockout.
But it was Tyson’s return bout at the venue against Buster Douglas two years later that etched the name Tokyo Dome into boxing infamy when 40-1 underdog Douglas shocked the boxing world by handing Tyson his first loss by 10th round knockout.
“As a boxer, being able to fight in the main event of any given day at Tokyo Dome would provide extra motivation,” the 30-year-old Inoue said to The Japan Times last week.
Former WBC bantamweight and super bantamweight champion Nery has a tortured relationship with Japan after his two previous visit to the land of the rising sun ended in disaster.
The 29-year-old Mexican southpaw ran afoul of the Japanese Boxing Commission (JBC)following his fourth round knockout of Shinsuke Yamanaka in August 2017 when he tested positive for the banned substance zilpaterol. Nery argued the result was due to consuming tainted Mexican beef.
Nery fared little better in his return to Japan to face Yamanaka in a rematch in defence of his WBC 118-pound title in March 2018 when he came in three pounds over the weight limit. Nery won by second-round knockout but received an indefinite ban from the JBC.
That ban is expected to be overturned in time for him to challenge WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Inoue.
“He’s fighting Luis Nery in Japan on May 6th,” Inoue’s American co-promoter Bob Arum confirmed on the 3 Knockdown Rule podcast.
“It is the first fight since Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas fought in the Tokyo Dome. It’s a very prestigious. The arena seats over 50,000 and with Inoue, it’ll be filled.
“The question of whether he wins that fight, he comes out of Japan to fight in the United States or Saudi Arabia, that’s really up to my co-promoter and I’d have to talk to them at that time.
“It’s a combination of what he can do in Japan financially, which is huge, and what he can do outside of Japan, which particularly if we’re talking about the Saudi’s interest, it could be even greater. So I honestly can’t answer that question.”
Inoue was last in action in December when he lifted the WBA and IBF title from Marlon Tapales by 10th round knockout to become undisputed champion in his second weight class.
Nery is coming off a second-round blowout of Froilan Saludar in Mexico back in July.