Report: Inoue to defend junior featherweight belts vs. Nery in May

Naoya Inoue has his next title defense lined up.

Inoue and Luis Nery, the WBC's mandatory 122-pound challenger, have reached an agreement to fight for Inoue's undisputed junior featherweight championship this May in Tokyo, sources told ESPN's Mike Coppinger.

The exact date isn't yet known.

The Japan Boxing Commission gave Nery a lifetime ban in 2018 for failing a drug test as well as not making weight before a fight. But officials involved have been told that he will be reinstated before the Inoue fight, sources told Coppinger.

Inoue, 30, is currently ranked as the No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer by The Ring. "The Monster" became the junior featherweight champion on Dec. 26 with a 10th-round knockout win over Marlon Tapales that also ran his lifetime record to 26-0, with 23 knockouts. He's won his last seven fights by either KO or TKO.

Inoue is the first undisputed junior featherweight champion and the second male boxer in the four-belt era to unify two weight classes. He became the undisputed bantamweight champion in 2022.

Nery, 29, will head into the fight with a 35-1 record, with 27 wins via knockout. He previously held the WBC junior featherweight title from 2020-21, losing it to Brandon Figueroa in his first defense. In 2017, Nery beat Shinsuke Yamanaka to become WBC bantamweight champion but had his title stripped after failing a drug test.

The Tijuana, Mexico, native's most recent fight was a second-round TKO win over Froilan Saludar on July 8.