Japanese pugilist Naoya “The Monster” Inoue (30 fights, 30 wins with 27 KOs) won and remains undefeated by Technical Knockout (TKO) at 45 seconds of the eighth round against Ramon Cardenas, to remain the Undisputed Super Bantamweight Champion.
Ramon Cardenas sold his defeat dearly, after having disrespected the Japanese champion, when he connected a great left blow full to the face to send him to sit on the canvas just in the second round.
Naoya Inoue successfully makes his fourth defense
After staying away from the country’s quadrilaterals for four years, 31-year-old Naoya Inoue returned in a big way to the main event of the evening at the T-Mobile Arena to demonstrate his power and make it clear why he is the undisputed 122-pound champion.
Cardenas received the opportunity to face Inoue for the 122-pound title as he was ranked #1 by the World Boxing Association (WBA).
The Japanese fighter made the fourth defense of his undisputed title, which was his first fight in the United States in four years. Cardenas (26-1, 14 KOs), a 29-year-old native of San Antonio, Texas, was his first championship bout in a 12-round bout.
Naoya Inoue won by repetition rather than power
Naoya Inoue recovered from his second knockdown of his professional career to win an exciting fight in the main event in Las Vegas, Nevada
Despite the large number of blows received by Ramon Cardenas, at the end of the fight and getting out of the ring, he looked undamaged in the face and body, which he corroborated and confirmed that “despite receiving so many blows, it did not hurt me, it was rather because of the number of repetitions than because it really affected me and hurt me”.
Ramon Cardenas showed a firm chin, a tenacious heart and exceptional pace to offer the fans. Unfortunately for the local fighter, Inoue was too much for Cardenas, finishing off the challenger early in the eighth round to retain his super bantamweight titles.
Inoue overcame Cardenas’ fast and accurate jab in the first round, but began to have problems in the second round. Cardenas did quality work on the inside, busting Inoue’s nose in the second and then landing an impressive left counterpunch that sent him momentarily to the canvas.
Inoue shook Cardenas a little in the fourth round with good combinations. By the fifth round, Cardenas landed another good counterattack, this time with his right hand, which stopped Inoue and in his corner he reflected on the adjustments he should make to his attack.
The fifth round was Cardenas’ last real threat, as Inoue hurt him midway through the sixth and began to unload with force. Cardenas fought back, but took a lot of punishment in the seventh round, recovering briefly but suffering a heavy knockdown in the last 30 seconds of the round.
Trainer Joel Diaz told Ramon after the seventh round that he had one more round to prove something, but it was referee Tom Taylor who stepped in to stop the fight at the start of the eighth round when Inoue put Cardenas against the ropes to inflict an avalanche of punches that Cardenas could not respond to. The Japanese fighter continued with the punishment and unloaded against fire with zero response.
It was a fantastic, action-packed fight in which Cardenas earned many new followers and presumably more accolades in the future
As for Inoue, it’s not a good sign that he was caught and knocked down with the same left counter. Despite the knockdown, he remains one of the two men with a chance to be boxing’s best active fighter, and there’s not much more he needs to work on
He can prioritise correction in his next camp before the September fight against Murodjon Akhmadaliev, which he announced after his victory.
Read the full article here
