Golden Boy's main event was more than a WBC eliminator in the junior featherweight division to decide the mandatory challenger to the Stephen Fulton-Naoya Inoue fight winner later this year.
Luis Nery's dance of violence with Azat Hovannisyan may have ended with Nery winning by eleventh-round knockout. Still, the previous ten rounds of combat were memorable enough to make even a disinterested viewer gape their mouth open with amazement.
The two scored only one knockdown, Nery's dropping of Hovannisyan near the end of the tenth round led to the fight's end in the following round but the exchange of blows over those rounds was the type of punches that shorten and take the edge off careers.
I had Nery slightly ahead at 96-93, same as two judges with the third giving Nery a 95-94 lead but I could understand a slight Hovannisyan lead after nine rounds before he was knocked down in the tenth.
Nery opened cuts around Hovannisyan's eyes in the third and fifth rounds with Hovannisyan staggering Nery in the fourth round and I thought Nery could have been in trouble, had he taken a strong follow-up punch.
The ninth round was a particularly savage round with toe to toe exchanges that saw each fighter buzzed during the three minutes but it seemed to sap Hovannisyan more than Nery.
I'm interested to see how much this fight took away from both fighters and I'd be surprised if either was the same at the world-class level.
However, boxing isn't always about what will be, it can be what is and was.
On this night, Luis Nery and Azat Hovannisyan painted a beautiful work of art at the top of the game.
No matter the future, they will always have that.
Boxing Challenge
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