Former World Champ Luis Nery Headlines For Golden Boy

Coming up Saturday night in Pomona, CA, former brief WBC 122 lb. title holder Luis Nery returns to headline for Golden Boy Promotions in a twelve round eliminator bout for the same belt.

The Mexican veteran and his opponent, Armenian contender Azat Hovhannisyan both met with the media a final time on Thursday,

Main Event Face-off at the Final Press Conference between @Luisnerynp and Azat Hovhannisyan.#NeryHovhannisyan | LIVE Feb. 18th on @daznboxing pic.twitter.com/LwEjuOxav1

— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) February 16, 2023

From the Golden Boy recap:

“With only days left for their WBC Super Bantamweight Eliminator main event, Luis “Pantera” Nery (33-1, 25 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico and Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan (21-3, 17 KOs) of Los Angeles by way of Yerevan, Armenia hosted a press conference today to discuss their 12-round fight. The event is set to take place on Saturday, February 18 at Fox Theater Pomona and is presented in association with Zanfer Boxing. The event will be broadcast worldwide on DAZN beginning at 5:00 pm. PST/ 8:00 p.m. EST.

Also on hand were members of the undercard to give comments. In the co-main event, Shane Mosley, Jr. (18-4, 10 KOs) will fight in a 10-round super middleweight fight against Chihuahua, Mexico’s Mario “Aguila” Lozano (33-10, 24 KOs). Ricardo “El Niño” Sandoval (20-2, 15 KOs) of Rialto will participate in a 10-round flyweight bout against Jerson Ortiz (17-6, 8 KOs) of Managua, Nicaragua. Opening up the DAZN broadcast, Rowdy “Legend” Montgomery (8-4-1, 6 KOs) of Victorville will face Christian “Ruso” Olivas (22-8, 19 KOs) of San Ysidro in an eight-round super middleweight match.

“It’s going to be a great fight. Azat is a great fighter. I have been watching him for a long time. He is a strong fighter – he throws punches and has resilience in the ring and has never been knocked out before. These are the types of challenges that I like to have that make me a better fighter,” Nery said.

Nery captured the WBC junior featherweight crown in 12 round decision over Aaron Alameda in September 2020, but lost it in the first defense eight months later when Brandon Figueroa knocked him down and out with a body shot TKO.

Hear us discussing and previewing Nery-Hovhannisyan on our latest “Big Fight Weekend Preview” podcast by clicking below,

As for  Hovhannisyan, he lives and trains in Southern California and is expected to provide a tough challenge, he said Thrusday,

“I am in good shape, I had a very good training camp. Everything is very good. We are ready for February 18. I know Luis Nery. He is a good fighter with a good left hand. I have a great new coach named Julian Chua. We are ready to put on a good show.”

Nery could be in line for another title shot, but the same could be said of Hovhannisyan if he pull off what would be the biggest win of his little known resume’.