On This Day | Luis Nery vs Azat Hovhannisyan! Last Year Today, We Got A Fight Of The Year Contender!

The Golden Boy promotions in association with Zan for boxing is proud to bring you the main event of the evening 12 rounds schedu for this WBC super balam weight title Eliminator two diamonds one ring who will shine the brightest pona California it's Golding time introducing to you first tonight F go to the blue quarter standing with trainer Julian cha of Brick House foxing standing also and assistant Chris Juan Mike Gregorian and art honia tonight wearing blue with red and gold trim be officially weighed 121.6 lb in 24 professional balances record is a solid one 21 victories 70 wins coming to by way of knockout against only three defeats here is the V World title Challenger tonight ready to make a statement fighting and residing out of Los Angeles California and representing his native armia introducing H crazy a [Music] H and across the ring stands his opponent tonight fighting out the Red Corner standing with trainer is Ramirez assisted by Eddie Monterosa and Abraham Perez tonight wearing white with gold he officially weighted 122 lb he holds an outstanding record consisting of 34 lb 30 33 victories with 25 wins coming to by way of knockout and only one defeat here is the former two division WBC champion in race number five in the [Applause] worldfor mexo [Applause] L right here good want to touch gloves do it now God bless well it's been hyped up as a potential fight of the Year by fans by media and by these two men as well this man Luis ner says within 30 seconds it will turn out to be a war and a zat henian that's exactly the kind of fight that he's looking for as well ready round one underway zat hovanesian in the blue trunks trimmed with red and gold Luis ner the Southpaw in the white and gold ner the southpaw but hovan switches from Lefty to righty so he fights off of any stand stance hence his name crazy [Music] a both men coming off of TKO victories ner most recently a third round stoppage win over David Carmona in October of last year hovan in a second round TKO here on theone and that is the slip good call there by Ray Corona that looked like it could have been a punch but it wasn't it was a it was a phantom punch right there but good counter attempt by Honan har letting his hands go already he could be very dangerous Sergio when he gets in that kind of Flow State when his feet are planted and the hands are moving he can be very tough to deal with ner is the perfect hybrid of boxer puncher he can come forward and be aggressive to the body he has hard punches from that South ball stance but he can get on the back foot and box brilliantly as well feet guys your feet and hovan he's not all just a reckless caution to the wind he has he had there's methan to that manage there there's a little bit of of intelligence to that chaos he keeps his chin down elbows tucked in he doesn't sling the punches and he keeps that bar tight when he's ready to fight he throws him away n triying to jump in with that left hand catches hovan on the way in and hovan looking for that check hook for ner on the way in venian and his trainer Julian Chua said they weren't worried about revealing the fact that they're hunting for a straight right hand down the middle I like the fact that Ned's already concentrating on the body of hovan hovan has never been stopped he's been in there with some punches but never even stopped so aim to the body Fe he's vulnerable there see ner very animated in the ring you see the creativity of his [Applause] offense there's n Amy for that body again you can see that's a game plan of theirs overian is forced to be reserved right now and Ed's not giving him an opportunity to let those hands fly yet M TR shots to the body n's almost straying a little bit low a lot of tension here in the opening round I think there's an understanding that both these men have fight ending power you can feel the tension in the air I know that's something you hear a lot but you feel it in this theater right now looking for a step back left hand gentlemen there's over comeing in with the hands up chin tuck he's ready to let them hands fly right there as soon as NTI stays stationary round two underway has Luis ner fighting off the back foot here this is something we saw him utilize a little bit more against Carlos Castro a couple of fights ago coming after that loss to Brandon Figaroa there's overan letting them big shots flow I mean you can hear the sound and the thump of the power of his punches see hovan trying to come down the middle with that right hand he in his Corner believe that will be the key that they can get inside some of those winging punches of Luis ner that first round was a calmest I've ever seen crazy a hovan ever start a fight and right there land up right hand hey don't hook him don't hook him come on tries to LEAP in with a left hook you see ner will do that he'll kind of tuck in behind the shoulder roll and allow some of those shots to travel their distance and ovan I'm sure doesn't mind that he's happy to hit anything yeah n's a South ball so they hide behind that that shoulder because they have that exit to the right but when it comes to ovan since he's so unorthodox and unpredictable that style is not going to work he's just going to hit anything and never offers him just like that nothing's clean but it's definitely catching his attention five right hands un Court by hovan there again none of them Landing clean but putting ner under duress here in the second half of round two [Applause] Mar so animated in the ring basically has a reaction to absolutely everything one of those body shots connected somewhere he said no that was on the back he's talking to Honan yeah you know that's a a boxer that's well aware of all if surroundings and you know that that just goes to show you that the radar that he has you know nothing affects him he doesn't step all the way back when hovan comes in SE calm Under Pressure there he [Applause] is straight left hand down the middle another one from Luis ner oh that was a dangerous left hand n he threw right there was able to pull back right now HOV is having a hard time closing the Gap to elusive there he on his feet right now throwing all the right punches henan hasn't been able to throw more than ones and twos good combination here for Mary letting his hands go thir counter left hook from oeni and as things are starting to heat up and this is the fight we expected right here I'm telling you right now that end of that second round we're we're we're getting a glimpse of what's to come both of them Landing some really heavy shots H in a little bit reserved but he still threw the right P punches ner boxing beautifully Power Boxing nicely I'll tell you there were Smiles on the faces of everyone in the corner of aad henian because this is the fight that they want much like this is the fight that the fans want but more specifically they think that when those chaotic exchanges happen that it's the straight punches of hovanesian that will come out on top I I think it's the straight punches from Mary that are coming on top right now we've seen a straight left hand that landed so yeah whatever is going to be straighter is going to be more effective in this fight the wide the wide hooks of hovi and are going to come short to the straight left pans from the southa and neran trying to dig down to the body one of those shots caught on the elbow of ner kind of lifts up the guard of ner and places a couple right hands downstairs What a Beautiful Boxer there he is man I'm telling you he he may be Mexican but he doesn't have that typical Mexican style of fighting he's just so smooth from that Southpaw stance and he's keeping crazy the a henan in control right now which is the most impressive left hand right down the middle from ner a little bit of swelling and perhaps a bit of blood on the face of crazy a already as we see the Cy box total thus far no no no don't hook don't hook work out of there see ner outlanding ovian to this point those punch totals starting to creep up as we expected they would n is so sharp right now so confident he's on the front foot backing up the aggressive bullying hovan right hand comes down the middle from hovan that swelling under his right eye starting to intensify maybe something for us to keep an eye on here no it's cut he there's a cut in the right eye stop take a step back right under the eye and it came from one of those it had to come from one of those sharp left hands of netti O good Hand by on the inside right there get off let's go let's go hey starting to get a little bit rough in there cuz he knows he can't keep up with the smoothness and the tactics of the boxing ability of ner so now he has to rough up ner I thought for a moment that maybe he was frustrating ner a little bit but ner starts firing away with combinations again there's that na pan again Cory straight one two comes back for another nap P that's going to be there all day it's just too smooth too sharp with that onew binary the dueling chance here at the Fox Theater the fans of Luis ner some of whom have come from T good right hook there byan got around the guard of ner that might have rocked him and a right hand on the exit as well terrific round between ner and hovan go wi for wi for wi for good fight guys all the way back all the way back all the way [Applause] back well when the referee tells you good fight before the start of round four you know it's been pretty good so far well we expected this and I'm glad that it's coming to fruition and you know we got a lot of time a lot of rounds left too so buckle up shot to the body to open things up from Luis ner looks for that same shot the corner of bad hovan and telling him take small steps don't reach that that sneaky footwork but ner has he can play with range and walk you into something serious n some success he was able to stop the movement of NY by a straight right hand to the gut that made ner stay still for a while and hovan landed a good four or five punch combination there good body shot there by hovan good inside work from hovan we saw Brandon Figaroa ultimately get the best of Luis ner because he was able to keep that fight on the inside for the vast majority of it and Figaroa was able to knock him out to a body shot from the Southpaw stands so right there hovan has a right idea to go to the body maybe even switch Southpaw because henian dust with stances yeah that is something that he has in his Arsenal we've seen it many times before as he goes back downstairs to the body and then a hard right hand up top and another one it was that right hand to the body to set up the right hand upstairs and this is one there he does he's a boxing first but then the Mexican style comes out of him he needs to keep the Mexican in check tonight hovan just ring to pounce get it's hard to think of a stylistic comparison to Luis ner a very unique operator in there such an interesting blend of different styles yeah he is I mean there's there's there's flashes of like zap Judah in there they're they just brilliant boxing but he has power but he has the he still has the body shots beautiful allaround hybrid of a boxer puncher Luis NY what a beautiful right hand connected from aad hovan in a moment ago let's throw it over to Betto Durant the cut is not a concern speaking with the cut man in the corner of HOV the said is underneath the eye not blocking him at all not blinding him at all they said they'll get in between rounds not a concern at Allan has the right idea he's dissecting there each other B now that's keeping him from moving left and right har finding himself on the ropes for the first time in this fight shots might have infected ner n's hurt n's hurt he got a clean right hand to the chin right now he's on shaky legs ner trying to use the perimeter here with 20 seconds remaining in the round and a hard shot from ner what a combination off the ropes from Luis ner as it was looking like he was trouble and noan is hurt now with that right uppercut it was a beautifully time right [Applause] uppercut going to be spectacular I'm telling you it's just getting started when you you weren't able to see it but when the bell rang Lis ner just jumped up in the air in excitement for round five and I think that a lot of our viewers at home uh might be doing something similar especially after seeing how round four ended stop Time Time come on man you guys got to stay on that come in did Hoban come out without a mouthpiece is that what happened there they don't call him crazy a for nothing yes it was we just got confirmation he just went into this fight with Luis ner without a mouthpiece and now he's stalking ner he's he's cutting off the ring a lot cleaner now a good left hand there from [Applause] ner har continuing to Circle to his left planting every once in a while and firing that left hand we take a look at the comp box numbers turning your back a tremendous percentage there in terms of power punch accuracy for Luis ner thus far but aat hovan throwing a lot more of them and you can see him focusing on the body now you know not only is ner a little susceptible to the body but it's also going to get him stopping from moving see right there that right hand to the body kept him from going to his left and for more on Luis ner let's send it over to Betto [Music] Durant over is hurting Luis NY to the body and that's why n is not moving anymore don't work things getting a little messy on the inside come on come on come on don't complain you got to keep fighting both Fighters were complaining there the referee said don't worry about it keep fighting as you pointed out Sergio nice short left hand right there by nty just perfectly concise he already got the timing down of the aggression of H henian all right these are some brutal exchanges on the inside brutal and they're beautiful they're concise they're right on the money both of them have a good chin got to remember n's never been down with a knockout upstairs it was a body shot that took him down hing's never been down and out Luis n has tried to change that he has henian rocked against the ropes henan hurt n pushing him away getting the distance not letting him off the hook look at this as advertised with a smile on his face panta he's enjoying it he's loving it honi coming right back to the body honi with two right hands to the body tremendous action beautiful noticed another cut has opened up right around the eyelid of aat henian and we received confirmation that that also was from a cut nice left hand there by hovan he rocked NTI right there he came in with a 2-1 that caught nety off guard excuse me there I miss BR that cut was caused by a punch so more for hovanesian to deal with and perhaps a concern if those start to intensify yeah Ray Corona came to us twice already and confirmed that both those cuts were by [Applause] punches good right hand there by hovan that you better be careful pulling out you can't get lazy with a fighter as unpredictable as [Applause] hovan the the movement has stopped by netti he might be he might be hurt downstairs because this is not his fight he's giving crazy an opportunity to land something big good combinations there from hovan let's quickly send it over to Betto Durant and Julian Tua telling his fighter do not exchange if he lands a big shot smother him I do not want you to exchange with him at all protect yourself whether there's some concern in that corner a very interesting and and kind of a change in the mindset there from what they felt initially in the fight which is what they wanted exchanges because they felt they could win them now being a little bit more cautious well that is that is something that I'm not familiar with ovan but maybe they see that his face is ring up he has been rocked the eye is shutting maybe they don't want that unpredictable unorthodox attack that he's were you accustomed to seeing by hovan you see the copy box numbers ner to this point outlanding hovan 102-84 that's through round five I love the way the hovan has been focused on the attack of the lower body that's what slowed down the movement in the legs of ner but n has just been so precise with the combinations he's been alternating the power and the speed so hold is not he's not ready to see where the punches are coming from n he connects with another left hand up top and there goes hold into the body I love it he hasn't given up on the body it will pay dividends a lot of leather Landing here but the damage to the face of hovan beginning to become a conser and the corner of hovan right now telling him they want more boxing but that's not what hovan is doing right now he's stalking and trying to get to the inside I don't think you could outbox a boxer like L nety he's just too damn good in there he's just too damn smart and too good on his feet HOV has to make this fight dir he has to throw caution to the win and get aggressive round seven underway of our main event that has been living up to all the hype so far Sergio you mentioned that ner slowing down a little bit we've mentioned the damage that hovanesian is incurred and that's the beauty of fights like this that as these Fighters both of them slowing down to certain degrees the violence just picks up and the violence is going to favor the more violent fighter and that's hovan he may be he may be down he may be boozed he may be battered but he's in this fight and he's one punch away to switch in all this round and right there you can see him cutting off the ring he's making this ring a lot smaller for ner the [Applause] Mover and we're going to send it over to Betto Duran who has more on Luis ner stando he's drowning they're taking the zah henan into deep Waters that's what they're telling Lis ner because n's been here before henan hasn't he said that they told anetti do not carry him fight your fight stay focused but they want him to fight for for three minutes Nar in between rounds did you see him he was dancing come on now well he was dancing after that left hook from hovanesian as well although I think that was a footwork issue more so than the impact of the shot but there's a good left hand from [Music] henian straight left hand connects from ner Hoven comes right back with a right hand standing right in front of each other punch for punch a left-handed fighter which a rightand fighter they're throwing the exact same punches hard left to connects from oenia good sequence here for crazy a this is just great back and forth action this is highend fighting Power Boxing at its best every put being thrown in the book back comes Luis Nery oian heading to the perimeter but he rips a body shot as well those are heavy heavy body shots n he's taking those well that one landed cleanly right there they trade shots on the inside both men using their full arsenal a lot of it Landing I would love to seean turn Sall which is something that he does give ner who's a natural sta a different look who can withstand this firefight can both men withstand this kind of action for 12 rounds yes they can yes they can and you know what NY might have the advantage but something tells me that HOV Nan is just there's something in him right now he knows he can still win this fight and land something big n is fighting him out but right now the strength I I like the flow for Homan even though his face is battered and bruised fight Luis ner once again dancing in his Corner feeling very loose ovian as stoic as ever and to your point Sergio I I there's that feeling about hovanesian that he just has a spirit that can't be broken and then if he keeps coming on like this that maybe is's going to find something big and they're finding plenty of big shots right now both ner and Honan like they told us hovan has hard to spare and you could see it right here he's not giving up he's rning some big shots in this round he's definitely rocking NY nbody keep that Chin T there he dropping his hands his chin up the confidence is Flowing but is it working in his best interest right [Music] now no no no good man good man a good round for aat hovanesian according to our compy box statistics 26 of 74 outlanding and out throwing Luis ner in round [Applause] seven I haven't seen no body shots from ovan that's what slow down the movement of ner I want to see over keep going and attacking the Body Hit the hips and the body and the ribs of Lis ner venan trying to throw a 2-1 there he's landed that quite often when he does throw that Sergio when he finishes his combination with another left hand it's kind of a a hybrid jab Power Shot it's Landing that's a perfect observation but a 2-1 is actually a one-w from the Southpaw St so to a South a 2-1 from the AL do fighter is a onew a very brief reprieve in the action here as both men are standing Toe to Toe in the center of the ring with less than a minute left to go in round eight oo I love that home run uppercut that ovan attempted right there no Jabs from crazy a Hoban it's all gunslinging it's everything coming from the sides everything coming from hooks around the guard [Applause] Harry works out of the clinch digs a left hand to the body brings another left hand up top back comes hovon with a hard left hook and another one and it's because n he's pulling back with his head up that's because he's tired he can't really he doesn't have the leg that he had earlier in the round so he's pulling back but you cannot do that with a a gunslinger like oian now it's ner looking for a home home run uppercut as he's standing his ground what a fight it it round nine underway and we did get a bit of an answer to your query in the last round Sergio about why hovan isn't digging to the body a little bit more although he's doing a lot of it right now his trainer Julian Chua is saying it's because ner is looking for the uppercut so if we go to the body we become a little bit susceptible yeah but you know what susceptible is is is part of the game it's part of boxing and it that's what he needs to be doing right here because the only time ner has been knocked out is to the body so he's he's vulnerable down there and that's where he needs to go three punch combination there from hovan ner trying to walk hovan down now a little bit and this is where hovan should be going to the body just like that just like that stabbing him downstairs that keeps the elbows tucked in on NTI and keeps the guns holstered let's send it over to Betto Duran with another report Edy spner told them you're doing great you're winning this fight you still got to be careful cuz this guy is crazy as his name he will not go away they said they have a lot of respect for him they still need to be careful with them cuz Netty is getting desperate I mean uh AAG is getting desperate so Netty needs to keep his guard up the entire ground thanks so much BTO you know interesting because the posture of Luis ner is drastically different than it was earlier Sergio I think you were alluding to the fact that the spring in the step of Luis ner is not there right now and it's because of these body shots right here this is what's taken this is what's taking the legs of ner that's why he's not moving anymore consistent body attack by [Applause] hovan and the compy Box totals as we take a look at them mad hovanesian outlanding Louis ner in terms of power punches at this point in the fight and now just because ner isn't moving as much doesn't mean that he isn't doing good work but you do start to question is this the impact of the work that hovan is doing is it the body shots as you're pointing out there's no question it is that's exactly why NY is is more uh uh stationary and look those little sneaky body shots all straight right hands to the body by hovan see the technique it's fling on Luis nety and that's because you know little by little you start just getting dissected to the body the wind goes see those shots right there even though you hitting forearm your elbow is digging into your own your own body your own rib there he still throwing still connecting but looking a little bit fatigued yes he is both men fatigued but right now it's it's Netty that's a little bit more hurt a little bit more tired but look at him go Still Standing Toe to Toe still trading what a fight I'm humbled watching this man I am and the doctor is going to have a look at the various abrasions on the face of aadan but not much of a discussion that's just posturing the doctor wouldn't attempt to stop this fight right here and rightfully so you are watching potentially 122 lb classic right now between Luis ner and oad hovenia 122lb version of rck boow and nander Holyfield man it's just like they're fighting in front of a mirror it's tit fortat the exact same punches it's identical aggression with more with what's going on with Zat hovan and in his Corner let's send it over to Betto Durant and there's no instruction Julia cha said right now I got to get into his heart I got to motivate him they know each other this is the fight what else am I going to tell him just tell him how bad does he wanted for his family thanks so much BTO guys and we're at the stage in the fight Sergio where this is just a fight there there really are no technical instructions that you could give your fighter when the fight is evolving like this this is all heart this is all conditioning and right now I am still favoring even though shots like that rock hovan back and they look sexy it's the it's the body punching by hovan just like that's actually taking the air out of the tires of L netti as illustrated by the compy Box stats that you see on your screen a big round for aat hovanesian whose Tempo is vastly outpacing that of Luis ner right now and there's that right hand again too consistent just those are stabbing body shots and you can see they're hurting NY I saw a little bit of movement in the legs of Luis ner after that last right hand to the body one body shot one clean body body shot is worth two head shots is ner starting to break down or is hovan breaking him down look at those sneaky body shots right there that's what's doing it right [Applause] there see hovanesian leaning on ner a little bit more on the inside ner said that he feels he's the physical strongest 122 pounder in the world or crazy a is putting that hypothesis to the test what a body shot by Hogan and what a neet p by and Hogan's hurt and down he goes just when you thought ner was starting to erode down goes hovan back hands up continue he is in serious trouble Mary all over it could crazy a survive unbelievable Saved by the Bell Ray Corona was one second away one punch away from stopping that fight body shot hovi and that caught Luis Ned's attention but NTI caught him with that left hook around the guard caught hovan pulling backward there a no no in box whenever you're this aggressive and Landing clean body shots like that the last thing you do is pull back like hovan did and that's what cost him let's see if ner will try and pounce on hovan here he seemed just moments away from ending this one I don't think one minute was enough for hovan to recover completely I can see netti hurting him right back four left hands already have landed just in the opening 15 seconds of this round a hideous cut under the right eye of hisat henian blood streaming down the face and right now n he has a right idea focusing on Power and combinations he's going to force the referee to stop this fight ner with a big opportunity here when it looked like the fight was getting away from him out of there I don't like the body language of hovan right now oh what a shot from eat it that missed it looked good but hit the [Applause] glove oh was certainly enough to give pause to Luis ner at least [Applause] temporarily and back comes overan to the body stop stop step back you got to love a fighter in the 11th round in the championship rounds not neglecting in the body hovan still not straining away from the strategy and again this is a minute and a half removed from being seconds away from being knocked out where is he finding the energy where do these men find the courage that's all heart that's something you cannot teach this is determination determination by both men and we expected this when when when you hear Battle of attrition and is it Luis Derry rallies back in an absolute classic ladies and gentlemen here for the Fox Theater in kimona California ladies and gentlemen 11 rounds of boxing of truly one of the most exhilarating exciting har pounding and top tier per professional boxing you all have just witnessed and truly a contender for fight of the Year let's give both of these Warriors a huge round of applause the official time comes to you 151 round number 11 to the winner by KO Alo Mexico [Music] [Applause] [Music] Lis