Brandon Figueroa expects the “complete” Naoya Inoue to stop Luis Nery when they fight on Monday.
The 31-year-old Inoue defends his undisputed super-bantamweight title at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, against a proven fighter who has lost only once in his career – to Figueroa in 2021.
Figueroa’s aggression was significant that night when he stopped Mexico’s Nery, 29, in seven rounds, and in Inoue, of Japan, Nery confronts a fighter widely considered one of the two finest in the world.
Since his stoppage of Stephen Fulton Jr in July, Inoue has vied with Terence Crawford for the status of the world’s finest fighter.
He is an even more destructive puncher than Figueroa at his best – Figueroa stopped Jessie Magdaleno with a ninth-round body punch on the undercard of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s victory on Saturday over Jaime Munguia – and Figueroa said: “He’s a really good fighter, man – an A-plus fighter. He ticks off the list in every area. He can box; he can brawl; he has power; speed; precision; everything. Nery’s too open.
“Man, I can’t wait to see that fight. I can’t wait to see how Inoue matches up against him. It’s going to be a great fight. Both of them are the same height, but, I feel like Inoue’s going to take the edge and be the complete fighter.
“Nery is a very solid fighter. He’s good; strong. But like I said, I found a lot of holes in his style when I fought him. He opens up a lot – that’s my thing – he opens up way too much, and Inoue’s going to find that an execute it.
“[I expect] a late, knockout victory for Inoue.”