Luis Nery is back from suspension and looked in fine form.
Controversial former bantamweight titleholder Luis Nery (27-0, 21 KOs) returned from his sanctioning body suspension to stop Filipino journeyman Jason Canoy (27-9-2, 19 KOs) in three rounds at home in Tijuana. It didn’t look like it was even going to need three rounds either after a huge left hand sent his challenger crashing hard to the canvas only thirty seconds into the fight. I thought Canoy was knocked out there and then, but he came to to beat the count and survive the follow up onslaught.
In fact, the Filipino showed tremendous heart to not only survive the first round, but to come out and fight very well in the second. “Pantera” Nery is a dynamic offensive talent with huge power who hasn’t even hit his prime yet at 23, but his defensive instincts definitely still lag behind his output. Canoy was able to tag him pretty regularly in round two and into the early stages of round three. He might even have won the second, though maybe not since Nery staggered him along the ropes in its final seconds.
Canoy continued his success in landing shots into the early third, but it didn’t matter. Pantera began landing again and the blows clearly impacted the smaller man. A body shot hunched Canoy over and the Mexican emerging star went on the offensive in a big way in an effort to finish the fight. The whirlwind of blows once again ended with the Filipino on the canvas. Once again he beat the count too though. Nery attacked in an effort to get the fight stopped and succeeded. The stoppage had a bit of an odd feel as Canoy was fighting back and not super badly hurt, but I’m not up and arms about it. He was certainly in danger in the corner with the arsenal of a powerful world class fighter raining down on him.
With the win Pantera Nery has to be a fight or two away from competing for a world title. I get why people have an issue with it, but for now I still had him ranked as the top 118 lb fighter in the world coming into the week. He is the man who dominated the man twice against former divisional king Shinsuke Yamanaka after all, even if the two bouts weren’t necessarily on an even playing field. It is a real shame that his poor choices left him out of the World Boxing Super Series tournament with the rest of the top of the bantamweight division.
