Undisputed world super bantamweight champion Naoya ‘’The Monster’’ Inoue of Ohashi Boxing Gym, who will defend his titles against the World Boxing Council’s top-ranked super bantamweight Luis Nery of Mexico on May 6 at Tokyo Dome, held a public workout at the gym on Apr. 10, his 31st birthday.
Speaking before a group of reporters together with Inoue’s father and trainer Shingo Inoue and the gym’s head Hideyuki Ohashi, Inoue said, ‘’I think I have improved performance (ever since he first won a world title in 2014). It is fate that I can have a fight at Tokyo Dome 10 years later. This year also falls on Ohashi gym’s 30th anniversary since its foundation, which will motivate me all the more.’’
Touching on the left-handed Nery, Inoue said, ‘’While we tend to look only at his offense, I think he can take a punch and has defensive technique (a sense of position in space) To cope with him, I think I will have to stick to my boxing while keeping my distance.’’
His trainer Shingo said, ‘’If he (Naoya) can outclass Nery’s boxing with concentration, I think he (Naoya) can input his moves. Naoya is good at doing that in one round.’’
So far Inoue has done a total of 87 rounds of sparring with the invited Mexican partners. He is expected to have a little more than 100 rounds of sparring before the fight.
‘’I will climb through the ropes with all the four championship belts (of the sanctioning bodies), which is important because I did not do that (after unifying all the bantamweight titles in 2022).
Inoue has a record of 26 straight wins, including 23 knockouts. As for the 29-year-old Nery, whose nickname is Pantera (black panther), he has 35-1 win-loss tally with 27 KOs.
