By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member of Boxing Writers Association of America

Naoya Inoue faced Luis Nery and there was feeling that this would be another easy Inoue win and the only question was when he would stop Nery.   In the opening moments in the first round, Inoue unleashed a left hook and as he dropped his right hand, Nery nailed Inoue with a counter left hook.   Down goes Inoue and this was the first time he was ever dropped in his professional career.    Inoue landed on all fours and quickly got up after listening to the referee count from one knee.  He looked dumbfounded and surprised being on the canvas as  44,000 fans looked on, wondering what just happened. For them, the mighty Inoue hit the canvas

This would be the first time since his fight with Nonito Donaire when he battled through a broken nose and broken orbital to win the fight that he faced a challenge.  He managed in the fight to floor Donaire in the eleventh round of that fight, and now he faced yet another challenge.

Inoue took over the second round as he dropped Nery with a vicious left hook.  He floored Nery twice more, including a nasty Inoue nasty hook that sent Nery down in round 5. The following round, Inoue ended the fight with a  right-hand sending Nery through the ropes.  The referee called the fight right here.   Inoue hit the canvas, the possibility of defeat staring him in the face but like many great fighters before him, he took back control of the fight. 

Looking at the data, it becomes apparent why Inoue won.  In the first round, Nery had a 10-8 round after the knockdown but after that round,  Inoue averaged 20 punches connected versus only 8 punches for Nery.  Inoue landed 107 punches with 62 power jabs landed and 45 jabs in contrast to only 54 punches landed for Nery with only 20 jabs and 34 power shots.  Inoue connected nearly 45 percent whereas Nery only connected on 28 percent of his punches.

Inoue not only landed nearly half of his punches, but his opponent didn’t even land 30 percent of his punches, showing that he wasn’t that easy to hit.  And his offense was good enough to penetrate his opponent defense.

Garcia, Did He Cheat ?

Right now, it appears that Ryan Garcia flunked his drug test after his fight against Delvin Haney.  He looked sharp and had excellent power, sending Haney down frequently during the fight while winning the decision.  He came over 3 pounds overweight and if it is confirmed that he cheated with performance enhancing drugs, then will hurt his reputation and his victory will be tainted over Haney.  Haney was open to a rematch but now, he has made it clear he won’t fight Garcia again if it is confirmed he cheated.  Garcia is asking for more testing for confirmation.  This story is developing.