LAS VEGAS — Naoya Inoue’s still perfect 30-0 record flashed before his eyes in the second round of Sunday’s undisputed super bantamweight title fight against Ramon Cardenas.
Inoue, largely considered a consensus top 3 pound for pound fighter in the world, was sent to the canvas by an explosive left handed counter by Cardenas with about 17 seconds left in the round.
From that point, the Japanese phenom known as “The Monster” took inventory of what would be needed to secure the win and delivered. Inoue spent the next six rounds thoroughly battering Cardenas before referee Thomas Taylor called the fight at 0:45 in the eighth round.
“I was very surprised (at the knockdown),” Inoue said. “But I took things calmly and put myself together.
“In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
While the eighth round stoppage may have seemed early in a vacuum, in reality, the fight could have justifiably been called in either of the two previous rounds. From the sixth round on, Cardenas was exclusively fighting in survival mode in hopes of avoiding a forced nap during ESPN’s Sunday night primetime.
Cardenas’ legion of fans believe another knockout-worthy receipt like the one in the second round was inevitable. That viewpoint may not be entirely in tune with reality.
The bout between Inoue and Cardenas capped off Cinco de Mayo weekend, which has historically become known as the Super Bowl Weekend of boxing. Canelo Alvarez has typically been slotted as the headliner on Las Vegas-based Cinco de Mayo weekend fight cards since Floyd Mayweather’s retirement, but with Alvarez beating William Scull in Riyadh on Saturday night, Inoue’s return to U.S. soil was given the nod.
Inoue last fought in the United States on June 19, 2021. He defeated Michael Dasmarinas by third round TKO at Virgin Hotel theater in what was the first fight card hosted at the venue since it was rebranded from the Hard Rock earlier that year. Inoue’s effort that night yielded the second of what has now become 11 straight wins by knockout or TKO for “The Monster”. Of Inoue’s 30 professional wins, remarkably 27 of them have been delivered via stoppage.
“If I have a chance, I would like to fight over here again,” Inoue said after the fight. “The fans here were supportive and great, and I hope I was able to entertain them.”
Inoue landed 176/462 total punches (38.1 percent), in comparison to Cardenas landing just 80/290 (27.6 percent). Inoue landed an impressive 49.1 percent of power punches, connecting on 108/220 punches thrown.
After being knocked down in the second, Inoue controlled the fight with his jab while mixing in the trademark power he has become known for in the bantam-and featherweight divisions. Inoue had previously been knocked down once in his career by Luis Niery. That fight occurred almost a year to the date of Sunday’s bout, on May 6, 2024 at the Tokyo Dome. Inoue eventually won by sixth round knockout to retain his undisputed super bantamweight titles.
While Inoue spent the last several years padding his undefeated record in his native Japan, Cardenas was living through a different grind. The San Antonio native of Mexican descent was driving for Lyft as recently as 2023. Two years later, he gave one of the all-time greats in his division perhaps the toughest test of his career.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas, so I came to give everything,” Cardenas said. “Everybody’s been calling me a Lyft driver, but I'm a hell of a tough Lyft driver, right?”