In a thrilling contest, former two-division world champion Luis “Pantera” Nery (34-1, 26 KOs) stopped Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan (21-4, 17 KOs) in the 11th round on Saturday night in a WBC 122-lb title eliminator at the Fox Theater in Pomona, California.
Nery dropped a tired and bruised & battered Hovhannisyan in the tenth round with a left to the head late in the round. In the 11th, Nery finished off ‘Crazy A’ Hovhannisyan after nailing him with a left to the head that sent him staggering against the ropes. The referee stepped in at that point to halt the fight. The time of the stoppage was 1:51 of the 11th.
After the fight, the 28-year-old Nery called out WBC & WBO super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton and Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue for his next fight.
Undercard results
In tonight’s co-feature bout, super middleweight Shane Mosley Jr. (19-4, 10 KOs) defeated Mario Lozano (33-11, 24 KOs) by a tougher-than-expected 10-round unanimous decision.
The 32-year-old Mosley Jr looked reasonably good early on but then gassed out after the fifth and was fought at a near standstill for the entire second half of the fight.
The scores were 100-90, 99-91, and 99-91. Interestingly, the judges didn’t give Lozano any credit for the excellent work he was doing.
Mosley Jr was getting caught frequently by Lozano in the second half of the fight, and he looked tired in the championship rounds. Lozano came on strong and looked like the better fighter of the two.
Mosley Jr is interested in challenging WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly for his title. He’ll have to fight a lot better than he did tonight for him to have any chance of beating Janibek.
Unbeaten highly ranked flyweight contender Ricardo “El Niño” Sandoval (21-2, 16 KOs) landed a scorching left hook to the body of Jerson Ortiz (17-7, 8 KOs) in the second round to get a knockout. The shot sent Ortiz down on the canvas, and he was too hurt to get back up. The fight was stopped at 2:46 of the round.
In a surprising result, super middleweight Rowdy Montgomery (9-4-1, 6 KOs) came in as a replacement opponent to beat Christian Olivas (22-9, 19 KOs) by a dominating eight round unanimous decision in a one-sided fight. The scores were as follows: 79-73, 79-73, and 80-72.
Main Card
Preview: Pantera Nery is trying to return from his knockout loss to Brandon Figueroa in May 2021. In that defeat, Nery lost his WBC super bantamweight title. He’s won his last two bouts, beating David Carmona and Carlos Castro.
If victorious tonight, Nery will likely need to stay busy while he waits for his eventual shot against the WBC champion, be it Fulton or Nery.
Shane Mosley, Jr. (18-4, 10 KOs) faces Mario Lozano (33-10, 24 KOs) in a 10 round bout. Mosley Jr, 32, picked up a career-best win last April, beating Gabe Rosado by an exciting 10 round majority decision in an action-packed bout.
It will be exciting to see if Mosley Jr can perform another outstanding performance tonight. Mosley Jr needs to make a push to get a high ranking so that he challenge for a world title and make life-changing money against undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo Alvarez.
Also, on tonight’s career, flyweight Ricardo Sandoval (20-2, 15 KOs) fights Jerson Ortiz (17-6, 8 KOs) in a 10 round contest.
If WBC/WBO 122-lb champion Stephen Fulton loses to former three-division world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue, the Nery vs. “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan winner would then face the famous Japanese star for the WBC belt, along with the WBO strap.
It’s more likely that Inoue will choose to delay defending against the Nery-Hovhannisyan winner to fight IBF/WBA champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
“I am in good shape; I had a very good training camp. Everything is very good. We are ready for February 18,” said ‘Crazy A’ Hovhannisyan during the final press conference on Thursday.
“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.”
Luis “Pantera” Nery (33-1, 25 KOs) is fighting tonight against the power-punching Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan (21-3, 17 KOs) in a scheduled 12 round WBC 122-lb title eliminator in a Golden Boy-promoted card at the historic Fox Theatre in Pomona, California. Nery vs. ‘Crazy A’ Hovhannisyan will be shown live on DAZN, with the event beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.
The former two-division world champion Nery is trying to lock himself in as the mandatory challenger for WBC super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton.