Luis Nery to return in February and could fill vacuum left if Naoya Inoue moves up

Hamburg – Junior lightweight contender Luis Nery will likely be back in action in February.

Last seen losing a thriller against Naoya Inoue in May, Nery has called out numerous opponents on social media, but the Mexican southpaw has not seen action since the sixth-round loss to Inoue.

“Luis Nery was coming back in December, the date got messed up so now he’s going to be back in February,” said advisor Sean Gibbons. “And everybody’s on hold with Inoue at 122.

“When Inoue goes away, you’ll have Marlon Tapales fighting for a world title, you’ll have Luis Nery, you’ll have Carl Martin. There’s a lot of guys sitting at ‘22, because from what I can tell, Inoue’s going to fight Sam Goodman. If he’s successful there, it looks like David Picasso in the US, and then, depending on what happens with this WBO at 126, if Rafael Espinoza goes up, that could open up a slot for Inoue there, or Inoue could pick a 22-pounder. The only other fights left in my opinion are [Junto] Nakatani, he’s got Sam Goodman, David Picasso is a great fight for the US-Mexican fighter, undefeated, young kid, and then what do you do?

“You’ve fought everybody at ‘22. You’ve cleared out. You’ve beat Goodman, he’s mandatory, you beat Nery, you beat Tapales. There’s still MJ [Murodjon Akhmadaliev], but I don’t think people fancy him after he got beat by Tapales. He just doesn’t have a ring with the fans in Japan.”

Inoue is one of the sport’s brightest stars, and he fights Goodman in Japan on December 24. But he is at a level where he will be the A-side against anyone, regardless of who he fights.

“The thing is, with the fans in Japan he [Inoue] can pick and choose,” Gibbons added. “He doesn’t need belts, so if it’s a belt issue and the guys say you’re not fighting for another title or whatever, at this time in his career he can pick and choose what fights make sense, what fights people want to see. Nakatani-Inoue could be another fight at the Tokyo Dome.”