Inoue Vs Nery to headline bumper Tokyo Dome show!
Earlier today in Japan we got the long awaited announcement of the worst kept secret in Boxing, Naoya Inoue's (26-0, 23) [井上尚弥] much anticipated bout with Mexican puncher Luis Nery (35-1, 27), with a huge press conference to not only announce the bout but also the show. And what made the announcement a little bit special however, wasn’t just the bout we knew about, but just how incredibly stacked the card for is, with a staggering 4 world title fights, all of which have some genuine intrigue, in one of the best cards of 2024.
The main bout will be the Inoue Vs Nery contest, which will see Inoue defending his Undisputed Super Bantamweight crown for the first time, as he takes on a fighter who was once “indefinitely” banned from Japan, and has long been public enemy #1 in Japanese boxing circles. The controversial Nery famously dethroned the then long reigning WBC Bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka, whilst failing a drug test, and then beat Yamanaka in a rematch, whilst missing weight and was seen enjoying some less than healthy food at the time, with reports that he had been eating Ice cream in Japan, rather than actively concentrating on making weight.
For Inoue the bout will see him look to build on other Super Bantamweight wins, following victories over Unified champions Stephen Fulton and Marlon Taples, to unify all 4 titles at the weight. A win here is expected to be followed by a bout in Autumn and one in Winter with Inoue looking to fit 3 fights into the year. As for Nery the bout follows a July win over Froilan Saludar and comes 15 months after a barn burning 11 round war with Azat Hovhannisyan, a bout that really showed him prove his toughness, which he’ll need to do to beat the “Monster” here.
Inoue’s younger brother Takuma Inoue (19-1, 5) [井上拓真] will also be on the card, defending the WBA Bantamweight title in an all-Japanese clash with veteran Sho Ishida (34-3, 17) [石田匠]. Coming in to this one Inoue will be seeking his second defense of the WBA title, which he won in April 2023, and looking to build on an excellent February win, which saw him become the first man to stop tough Filipino former world champion Jerwin Ancajas. The talented Inoue, who is often overshadowed by his older brother, is a talented fighter who has a strong, and often overlooked, resume including wins over Ancajas, Liborio Solis, Shingo Wake, Froilan Saludar and Tatsuya Fukuhara, among others, and although not the freakish talent Naoya is, is a very solid world class fighter who often gets overlooked. Interestingly Ishida has also long been overlooked, and for much of his career was a stablemate of Kazuto Ioka's. He is best known internationally for losing in a WBA Super Flyweight title bout against Kal Yafai in 2017. Since hat loss he has rebuilt, and competed at a high level, but has suffered split decision losses to Israel Gonzalez and Kosei Tanaka, and was fortunate against the hard hitting Toshiya Ishii in 2020. He will go in as the clear under-dog, but is a tall, talented fighter, with a brilliant jab which will ask questions of Inoue.
Staying at Bantamweight we’ll also see we'll see WBO champion Jason Moloney (27-2, 19) defending his title against against Yoshiki Takei (8-0, 8) [武居由樹]. For Moloney, a former KO victim of Naoya Inoue, this will be his second defense of the title, and see him returning to the ring following a thrilling bout with Saul Sanchez in his first defense. The talented Australian is a real great fighter, but someone who, in recent fights, has been dragged into the wrong type of fight at times and if he does that against the dangerous Takei he could well be in serious trouble. Despite only being 8-0 as a professional Takei was a top kick boxer before being put on the boxing fast track and in just 8 fights he has already answered a lot of questions. He has done 11 rounds, he has claimed the OPBF Super Bantamweight title, and he has shown frighteningly heavy hands, an explosive and aggressive style and he carries real danger with him. Of all world title bouts announced for this show, this is probably the hardest one to call, and the one that sees the local taking the biggest step up, but also one where a case can be made for either guy.
The other world title bout announced for the card will actually be a rematch and another all-Japan affair, as WBA Flyweight champion Seigo Yuri Akui (19-2-1, 11) [阿久井政悟] takes on Taku Kuwahara (13-1, 8) [桑原拓]. For Akui this will be his first defense of the title, which he won in January when he dethrones the awkward Artem Dalakian, and he will be seeking a repeat performance against Kuwahara, who he beat in a Japanese title fight in 2021, with Akui scoring a 10th round TKO with 11 seconds left. Since that win Akui has gone 3-0, and notched really good rounds against Takuya Kogawa, Jayson Vayson and the aforementioned Dalakian. As for Kuwhara he has rebuilt since that first bout, going 5-0 (4), claiming and defending the OPBF Flyweight title and beating former world title challengers Giemel Magramo and Wulan Tuolehazi. On paper it’s hard to go against the champion here, but Kuwhara will have learned from his loss and will be hungry for revenge.
Notably 4 of the men in the world title fights, the Inoue brothers, Takei and Kuwahara are all from the same gym, the Ohashi Gym, with their promoter Hideyuki Ohahi being the lead promoter of the event along with Top Rank and Teiken.
As for the event, it will take place on May 6th at the Tokyo Dome, the huge venue that hasn’t held boxing in over 30 years, and has only ever been used for boxing twice, both in events headlined by Mike Tyson. The fact the venue is so huge, between 42,000-55,000 depending on configuration, likely explains why the card is as stacked as it is. Despite that it’s hard to imagine their being many seats left given the profile of just the main event, with the Japanese megastar defending in his home country against a man who was, for years, the man Japanese fans hated. The fans will likely be desperate to see a Japanese fighter get revenge for what Nery did to Yamanaka, and will feel confident the “Monster” will give Nery the beating they feel he deserves.
To his credit at the press conference today Neri did apologise for what he’d done and did seem to make amends with Yamanaka, with the two men seen shaking hands and smiling together. Neri also accepted that he’d let people down, and there seems to be a real focus on making weight and showing a sense of professionalism here.
The show is set to be aired on Amazon Prime in Japan, seeing Inoue return to the service after fighting several fights on Lemino, and ESPN+ in the US. Although not confirmed it’s also likely that the broadcast will be picked up in the UK, though no broadcaster has yet been confirmed for the show, among other territories.
The main bout will be the Inoue Vs Nery contest, which will see Inoue defending his Undisputed Super Bantamweight crown for the first time, as he takes on a fighter who was once “indefinitely” banned from Japan, and has long been public enemy #1 in Japanese boxing circles. The controversial Nery famously dethroned the then long reigning WBC Bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka, whilst failing a drug test, and then beat Yamanaka in a rematch, whilst missing weight and was seen enjoying some less than healthy food at the time, with reports that he had been eating Ice cream in Japan, rather than actively concentrating on making weight.
For Inoue the bout will see him look to build on other Super Bantamweight wins, following victories over Unified champions Stephen Fulton and Marlon Taples, to unify all 4 titles at the weight. A win here is expected to be followed by a bout in Autumn and one in Winter with Inoue looking to fit 3 fights into the year. As for Nery the bout follows a July win over Froilan Saludar and comes 15 months after a barn burning 11 round war with Azat Hovhannisyan, a bout that really showed him prove his toughness, which he’ll need to do to beat the “Monster” here.
Inoue’s younger brother Takuma Inoue (19-1, 5) [井上拓真] will also be on the card, defending the WBA Bantamweight title in an all-Japanese clash with veteran Sho Ishida (34-3, 17) [石田匠]. Coming in to this one Inoue will be seeking his second defense of the WBA title, which he won in April 2023, and looking to build on an excellent February win, which saw him become the first man to stop tough Filipino former world champion Jerwin Ancajas. The talented Inoue, who is often overshadowed by his older brother, is a talented fighter who has a strong, and often overlooked, resume including wins over Ancajas, Liborio Solis, Shingo Wake, Froilan Saludar and Tatsuya Fukuhara, among others, and although not the freakish talent Naoya is, is a very solid world class fighter who often gets overlooked. Interestingly Ishida has also long been overlooked, and for much of his career was a stablemate of Kazuto Ioka's. He is best known internationally for losing in a WBA Super Flyweight title bout against Kal Yafai in 2017. Since hat loss he has rebuilt, and competed at a high level, but has suffered split decision losses to Israel Gonzalez and Kosei Tanaka, and was fortunate against the hard hitting Toshiya Ishii in 2020. He will go in as the clear under-dog, but is a tall, talented fighter, with a brilliant jab which will ask questions of Inoue.
Staying at Bantamweight we’ll also see we'll see WBO champion Jason Moloney (27-2, 19) defending his title against against Yoshiki Takei (8-0, 8) [武居由樹]. For Moloney, a former KO victim of Naoya Inoue, this will be his second defense of the title, and see him returning to the ring following a thrilling bout with Saul Sanchez in his first defense. The talented Australian is a real great fighter, but someone who, in recent fights, has been dragged into the wrong type of fight at times and if he does that against the dangerous Takei he could well be in serious trouble. Despite only being 8-0 as a professional Takei was a top kick boxer before being put on the boxing fast track and in just 8 fights he has already answered a lot of questions. He has done 11 rounds, he has claimed the OPBF Super Bantamweight title, and he has shown frighteningly heavy hands, an explosive and aggressive style and he carries real danger with him. Of all world title bouts announced for this show, this is probably the hardest one to call, and the one that sees the local taking the biggest step up, but also one where a case can be made for either guy.
The other world title bout announced for the card will actually be a rematch and another all-Japan affair, as WBA Flyweight champion Seigo Yuri Akui (19-2-1, 11) [阿久井政悟] takes on Taku Kuwahara (13-1, 8) [桑原拓]. For Akui this will be his first defense of the title, which he won in January when he dethrones the awkward Artem Dalakian, and he will be seeking a repeat performance against Kuwahara, who he beat in a Japanese title fight in 2021, with Akui scoring a 10th round TKO with 11 seconds left. Since that win Akui has gone 3-0, and notched really good rounds against Takuya Kogawa, Jayson Vayson and the aforementioned Dalakian. As for Kuwhara he has rebuilt since that first bout, going 5-0 (4), claiming and defending the OPBF Flyweight title and beating former world title challengers Giemel Magramo and Wulan Tuolehazi. On paper it’s hard to go against the champion here, but Kuwhara will have learned from his loss and will be hungry for revenge.
Notably 4 of the men in the world title fights, the Inoue brothers, Takei and Kuwahara are all from the same gym, the Ohashi Gym, with their promoter Hideyuki Ohahi being the lead promoter of the event along with Top Rank and Teiken.
As for the event, it will take place on May 6th at the Tokyo Dome, the huge venue that hasn’t held boxing in over 30 years, and has only ever been used for boxing twice, both in events headlined by Mike Tyson. The fact the venue is so huge, between 42,000-55,000 depending on configuration, likely explains why the card is as stacked as it is. Despite that it’s hard to imagine their being many seats left given the profile of just the main event, with the Japanese megastar defending in his home country against a man who was, for years, the man Japanese fans hated. The fans will likely be desperate to see a Japanese fighter get revenge for what Nery did to Yamanaka, and will feel confident the “Monster” will give Nery the beating they feel he deserves.
To his credit at the press conference today Neri did apologise for what he’d done and did seem to make amends with Yamanaka, with the two men seen shaking hands and smiling together. Neri also accepted that he’d let people down, and there seems to be a real focus on making weight and showing a sense of professionalism here.
The show is set to be aired on Amazon Prime in Japan, seeing Inoue return to the service after fighting several fights on Lemino, and ESPN+ in the US. Although not confirmed it’s also likely that the broadcast will be picked up in the UK, though no broadcaster has yet been confirmed for the show, among other territories.