Though many thought Luis Nery had a valid shot at being the one to dethrone long term Japanese world title holder Shinsuke Yamanaka, few expected him to do it so early in the fight. A great match up on paper delivered a very good fight in the ring today in Japan. Now the bantamweight division has been upended.
Despite the early win, Luis Nery (24-0, 18 KOs) was not nearly as aggressive in this fight as I have previously seen him be. This is probably thanks to Shinsuke Yamanaka’s (27-1-2, 19 KOs) patented left hand which he landed to some effect once in the first minute of the fight. With his Mexican challenger out at range, Yamanaka was able to control the first two rounds overall. Though when Nery did choose to charge, like he did two minutes into the contest, he clearly was able to bother Yamanaka.
The third seemed to be the round in which Nery wanted to turn up the volume. Overall, he did, but whenever he was on the verge of a rally, a left from Yamanaka would remind Nery to be more cautious. Still, I thought Nery won the round. Scorecards were made irrelevant in the fourth, however, when a pair of huge left hands from the Mexican soon to be titleholder had Yamanaka reeling. Luis attacked and attacked unrelentingly, battering the aging Japanese legend around the ring until his cornerman ran into the ring to put an end to the beating.
Upon realizing the fight had been stopped, a look of absolute devastation became Yamanaka’s face. It was really a heartbreaking moment. And maybe it seemed that his team’s reaction to pull him from the fight was a hair premature watching the fight from the comfort of my couch, but a fighter’s corner knows his fighter better than any of us. With the loss, Yamanaka failed in his bid to tie the record for number of successful title defenses for a Japanese fighter.
At only 22 years old, Mexico’s Luis Nery not only picked up the WBC belt here, but he also launched himself right to the top of the division. I had him just outside my top ten, but when I re-evaluate the rankings tomorrow, he may very well end up in the top spot. Yamanaka was clearly the best bantamweight in the world and Nery just dimissed him in the first third of the fight. Impressive stuff from a new young star in the sport.
