Categories Sports

Naoya Inoue vs Ramon Cardenas Recap

Undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue successfully defended all four of his world titles with a TKO win over Ramon Cardenas at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, marking his first fight in the United States since 2021.

Inoue, who entered the fight as a heavy favorite, was unexpectedly dropped in the second round by a clean left hook from Cardenas—the second knockdown of his professional career. Despite the early scare, Inoue rebounded quickly and systematically broke down Cardenas before securing a stoppage 45 seconds into the eighth round, following a barrage of unanswered punches that left Cardenas defenseless and forced the referee to stop the fight.

Cardenas started the fight confidently, using sharp jabs to gain the champion’s respect. While his punches lacked significant power, he managed to dictate the pace early and surprised Inoue with his aggression in the second round. As Inoue tried to press forward, Cardenas landed a perfectly timed counter left hook that sent Inoue to the canvas.

Inoue maintained his composure and adjusted quickly. By the third round, he found his rhythm and dominated the fight from that point on, using slick defense and powerful combinations to back Cardenas into corners and against the ropes. He mixed precise three-to-six punch combinations, gradually wearing down Cardenas.

In the seventh round, Inoue delivered a knockdown of his own after repeatedly hitting Cardenas with right hands until he went down. Though Cardenas survived the round, Inoue wasted no time in the eighth, launching a final offensive combination that left Cardenas unable to respond, prompting the referee to end the fight.

With the win, Inoue improves to 30-0 with 27 knockouts. He will most likely remain at junior featherweight for a bout against WBA interim champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev later this year.

Tags

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *