Luis Nery. Photo by Naoki Fukuda

News reached The Ring on Thursday evening that former bantamweight titleholders Emmanuel Rodriguez and Luis Nery will meet on the undercard of Deontay Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title defense against Luis Ortiz on November 23 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Rodriguez, who is rated No. 5 by The Ring at 118 pounds, was scheduled to face Rau’shee Warren in a WBC title eliminator, but the former three-time U.S Olympian sustained an injury.

Nery is rated No. 1 by The Ring and was looking for a dance-partner for what will be his final fight of the year.

Rodriguez (19-1, 12 knockouts) is a former amateur standout, who captured gold at the World Youth Championships in 2010. The Puerto Rican star moved seamlessly toward a world title shot and impressively out boxed Englishman Paul Butler to win the vacant IBF strap in May 2018. Rodriguez made one defense against Jason Moloney in the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Super Series but was stopped inside two rounds by Naoya Inoue in the semis.

Nery (30-0, 24 KOs) scored a fourth-round stoppage over The Ring champion and WBC titleholder Shinsuke Yamanaka in August 2017. However, it was later revealed that the winner had tested positive for zilpaterol and, although the result stood, the explosive Mexican puncher was stripped of The Ring championship almost immediately

The pair met in a rematch in March 2018. This time Nery missed weight by three pounds and was stripped of his WBC title before entering the ring. Nery stopped Yamanaka in two but was cast as a boxing pariah, receiving a lifetime ban in Japan. He has won his last four outings, all inside the distance.

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