Nery's condition meant he had to have special lights installed on the ring's corners when he fought; that way he could tell when a round began or finished.
[3] Nery's next bout resulted in a huge step-up in opposition class: he faced Puerto Rican Orlando Maldonado.
On March 4, 1983, Nery had his first contest to be held abroad, when he challenged Santos Laciar at the Estadio Chateau Carreras in Cordoba, Argentina.
[7] Nery awaited one year to return to a professional boxing ring, after which, on March 9, 1984, he faced the 4 wins, 6 losses Ernesto Sanchez at Santo Domingo.
Nery dropped Zapata in round seven, but he lost by a relatively close but unanimous ten-rounds decision, with scores of 93–98, 94–97 and 96–97, all in favor of the Panamanian.
[10] Next, Nery made his United States professional boxing debut when faced, on May 10, 1985, with the future WBC world Bantamweight champion Miguel "Happy" Lora of Colombia, in a ten-rounds meeting held at the Tamiami Fairgrounds Auditorium in Miami, Florida.