Luis Nery is back in the win column.
The hard-punching Mexican, who was stopped by Brandon Figueroa in his most-recent fight, put previously unbeaten Carlos Castro down in the opening round and went on to win a split decision on Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios card Saturday in Las Vegas.
Nery (32-1, 24 KOs) tried to match the naturally bigger, stronger Figueroa and paid a price in May. On Saturday, he fought aggressively at times — landing quick, hard combinations — but he also used to his feet to be an elusive target.
Castro (27-1, 12 KOs) had his moments, particularly in the middle rounds. He matched Nery punch for punch beginning in Round 4. However, he couldn’t do quite enough to erase the early deficit, at least on two cards.
The official scores were 96-93 and 95-94 for Nery, 95-94 for Castro. Boxing Junkie had it 97-92 for Nery, seven rounds to three.
Nery put Castro on his behind with a straight left less a minute into the fight. Castro got up at the count of 8 and weathered an onslaught of punches from Nery, who tried to end matters then and there.
However, Castro survived the round. After that, Nery was content to box, score in flurries and make it difficult for Castro to land cleanly. The formula worked.
