Former two-division world champion Luis Nery is wasting little time getting back into the ring following his fight-of-the-year frontrunning knockout win against Azat Hovhannisyan in February. 

Nery promoter Fernando Beltran told BoxingScene.com in an interview that Nery (34-1, 26 KOs) will be returning on July 8 in Mexico against a yet-to-be-determined contender.

“We’re looking for a tough and good opponent – the best opponent out there. Luis rested a little bit and now he’s ready,” said Beltran. 

Due to his win against Hovhannisyan, Nery became the WBC mandatory challenger for the winner of the Stephen Fulton-Naoya Inoue unified WBC/WBO junior featherweight title fight on July 25. Nery recently passed on an IBF title eliminator against Ra'eese Aleem. 

The Tijuana native Nery’s plan is to stay busy after only one fight each in 2020 and 2021 and two in 2022. 

“Pantera” Nery is coming off a war against Hovhannisyan in which the see-saw, 122-pound slugfest ended in the 11th round after Nery pummelled Hovhannisyan. 

The 28-year-old Nery has had an uneven 11-year pro career testing positive for a banned substance and missing weight several times. His only loss came to then-champion Brandon Figueroa in 2021. 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.