Daily Times

Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue and Mexican challenger Luis Nery both made weight Sunday for their title showdown at the 45,000-plus seater Tokyo Dome.

Boxing returns to the famous venue on Monday for the first time since 42-1 underdog James “Buster” Douglas knocked out unbeaten heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in February 1990 in one of the sport’s biggest upsets. The unbeaten Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs), who will put his four world titles on the line, weighed in 100g under the limit at 55.2kg, while Nery came in with 500g to spare at 54.8kg. Nery (35-1, 27 KOs), a former two-division world champion, was stripped of his bantamweight world title in 2018 after failing to make weight for a fight in Japan. “I knew he would make the weight,” said Inoue. “It’s a big event and Nery is probably making more for this fight than any previous fight in his career. I wasn’t worried.” Inoue knocked out Marlon Tapales of the Philippines in December to become the second undisputed world champion at two different weights since the four-belt era began in 2004. American Terence Crawford was the first man to achieve the feat.