Nery schedules non-title fight amidst cloud of suspicion

WBC bantamweight titleholder Luis Nery is coming off the biggest win of his career when he stunningly knocked out Shinsuke Yamanaka at the end of the summer, but the thrill of that win — for fans anyway — lost a lot of its appeal when Nery tested positive for banned substances immediately afterwards.

So while Nery, whose ‘B’ Sample also tested positive for the substance Zilpaterol, has a cloud of suspicion hanging over him and the WBC figures out how it wants to respond, Nery has scheduled a stay-busy fight against Arthur Villanueva on November 4th in Tijuana, Mexico, RingTV reports.

Whether or not Nery (24-0, 18 KOs) should even be allowed to fight anyone until this failed drug test situation gets sorted out is one question, but it appears that Nery will be allowed to fight in the interim anyway.

His opponent, 28-year-old Villanueva (31-2, 17 KOs), has a decent looking record but hasn’t really beaten anyone of note. The best opponent he’s faced was probably McJoe Arroyo, to whom he lost a technical decision back in mid-2015. But he also lost a unanimous decision to Zolani Tete in April of this year.

Despite that, Villanueva believes this style match-up against Nery better suits him.

“[Nery is] strong and never stops punching,” said Villanueva of Bago City, Philippines. “I think [Tete] is better than him, but I know he is a dangerous opponent.

“But for me as a boxer, like to fight with [Nery’s] style than the style of Tete. I think I can hit Nery compared to Tete, I could not hit him.”

This fight is scheduled to air on Mexico’s Azteca 7 and internationally on beIN Sports, according to a Zanfer Promotions press release.