Naoya Inoue vs. Luis Nery: Five Things We Learnt From Tokyo Dome Card

Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) continued to assert his dominance in the super bantamweight division with a stoppage of Luis Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) on Monday.

Inoue got the technical knockout at 1:22 of round six. With the victory, he remains the undisputed champion of the division. The two fighters met in the headliner of an event at the Tokyo Dome. Fight fans in the United States caught the action live on ESPN+, while those in the United Kingdom and Ireland could do so on Sky Sports.

With a total of five bouts on the card (four of those were world title fights), much was learned. While the majority of attention went to the main event, the undercard was also noteworthy. Big Fight Weekend presents the five things we learnt from watching the Inoue-Nery card.

Naoya Inoue vs. Luis Nery: Five Things We Learnt

It Is Going to Take a Lot More Than a Knockdown to Defeat Naoya Inoue

Nery had the best opening round he could hope for. Fighting for undisputed status in his opponent’s backyard in front of tens of thousands in attendance. And then he becomes the first person to knock down Inoue in the professional ranks. As perfect of a first-round Nery had, it only got worse for him from there. Inoue dominated all the subsequent rounds en route to victory. It goes to show that it will take a lot more than knocking Inoue down to defeat him.

Like 118, Like 122

As was the case when he fought at bantamweight, it appears that there is genuinely no one at 122 lbs who could defeat Inoue. Since moving up in weight, the Japanese fighter has fought three of the best fighters at Super Bantamweight and scored knockouts over all of them. If there is someone who can defeat Inoue, they are not at 122.

Title Bout in Ninth Fight? No Problem

Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KOs) became the bantamweight world champion with a unanimous decision win over Jason Moloney (27-3, 19 KOs). The new titleholder outboxed his opponent over 12 rounds to win the WBO belt. While Takei does have plenty of combat experience (thanks to his time as a kickboxer), becoming world champion in nine professional boxing bouts is still impressive. He remains a fighter to keep an eye out for and is part of a group of Japanese boxers who have taken over bantamweight since Inoue moved up.

Japanese Boxing Is in a Great Spot

Japanese fighters were involved in all four title bouts on May 6, two of which were all-Japanese affairs. Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs) and Seigo Yuri Akui (20-2-1, 11 KOs) are just two of many world champions from Japan. Both Inoue and Akui faced game opponents but were able to come out on top in the end. While neither man has the level of popularity that Naoya has, they are among the many representatives of a generation of Japanese boxers who are currently stamping their authority in boxing.

TJ Doheny Still Has It

He may not have been part of the broadcast, but TJ Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) has been on a roll as of late. He is unbeaten in three fights with all wins coming by stoppage, two of which were against unbeaten fighters. Since losing to Sam Goodman in March 2023, Doheny has been coming to Japan for fights – with great success. Given that he is 37 years old, it is nice to see the former super bantamweight champion enjoy this kind of success at a time when many either retire or consider it.