Luis Nery’s biggest fight has long been the one outside of the ring.

The talented and hard-hitting Mexican boxer has had a propensity for battling the scales, and has also tested positive for zilpaterol, a banned substance, throughout his eight-year career.

Nery (30-0, 34 KOs) missed out on the opportunity of fighting Emmanuel Rodriguez on the undercard of the Deontay Wilder versus Luis Ortiz rematch last November because he again missed weight.

Nery was training for Rodriguez under the watchful eye of Hall of Fame coach Freddie Roach, but never got the chance to show it.

Instead, he switched trainers again to Eddy Reynoso, the BWAA 2019 trainer of the year. Nery and Reynoso agreed that the fighter’s days as a bantamweight were in the past, and the 25-year-old southpaw was set to make his 122-pound debut last month against Aaron Alameda (25-0, 13 KOs) in Las Vegas, but that card got wiped out due to coronavirus.

Zanfer Promotions head Fernando Beltran said the Alameda fight is still on the table for rescheduling, and he believes Nery and Reynoso make the perfect pairing the next time they step into the ring as a team.

“I always express admiration to Eddy Reynoso and Canelo Alvarez. Eddy is becoming a sensational trainer. He is taking the torch of legendary trainers,” Beltran told BoxingScene.com in an interview. “Nery feels very sensational with Eddy in training. Nery talked to me a few days ago and told me he is ready to make history. Now he needs to be very disciplined in the gym. He’s made a bad name for himself as an undisciplined fighter. Now he’s the bad boy of boxing. What can we do? He needs to understand to stay disciplined.”

Nery’s previous wrongdoings regarding weight have led to his banishment for life from the Japan Boxing Commission in 2018 as he lost his title on the scale to Shinsuke Yamanaka, an opponent he beat twice.

Nery was over five pounds the 118 limit and eventually shrunk to 121 pounds before beating Yamanaka the second time.

Still, the WBC punished Nery for his unprofessionalism and suspended him indefinitely the following day after he knocked Yamanaka down four times in a second-round knockout victory.

Nery is currently riding an 11-fight stoppage streak (and 15 of 16 overall), most recently knocking out Juan Carlos Payano last July.

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.