Naoya Inoue retains the undisputed junior featherweight title after taking Ramon Cardenas’ best shot.
The fight was stopped in the first minute of the eighth round after the two fighters displayed a gutsy performance in front of the crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 4.
The event concluded a weekend of boxing that featured Ryan Garcia’s loss in Times Square on May 2 and Canelo Alvarez’s underwhelming victory in Saudi Arabia.
Throughout the ESPN broadcast, there was continuous talk about Inoue possibly serving as the savior of the weekend if he could deliver an exciting fight.
When Inoue was asked about having to share the spotlight over the weekend with other prominent fighters, he told ESPN he was going to ‘fight my own fight.’
Cardenas was clearly the underdog in the fight, but helped deliver an exciting fight alongside Inoue by knocking down the champion late in the second round.
The knockdown made the fight interesting throughout the early round, with Cardenas having a chance, but Inoue proved to be too much by the eighth round, when the fight was stopped by the officials.
It was Inoue’s first fight back in the States since 2021, when he defeated Michael Dasmariñas by knockout in the third round to retain the WBA (super bantamweight), IBF, and The Ring bantamweight titles.
Inoue’s last 25 fights were all championship fights, with the first coming in April 2014.
Cardenas entered Sunday having won his last 14 straight fights and positioned himself for his first world title shot. He was coming off a unanimous decision victory against Bryan Acosta on Feb. 25.
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas results
Round 1: The opening round served as a feeling-out process for the two fighters. Naoya Inoue looked sharp early on. Ramon Cardenas managed to get some jabs in early on as well.
Round 2: Cardenas applied some pressure in the second round and drew blood from the nose of Inoue. In the final seconds of the round, Cardenas surprisingly delivers a left hook that drops Inoue. It was just the second time Inoue had been knocked down in his career.
Round 3: Cardenas continued to ride some of his early momentum and continued to test the left-hand shots. Inoue appeared unaffected by the knockdown or the early cut.
Round 4: Inoue remained aggressive on offense and got the best of Cardenas with several accurate punches. It could be the round that turned things around for Inoue.
Round 5: Cardenas doesn’t back down from Inoue as the fighters continued exchanging strikes. Inoue has landed more body shots (16-9) through the first five rounds.
Round 6: Inoue rattles Cardenas with a series of shots that force him against the ropes. Inoue continued to throw a fury of punches throughout the final minute of the round. Inoue landed 63% of his power punches in the round to Cardenas’ 37%.
Round 7: Cardenas continued to take some punches, including one that sent him stumbling back into the corner in the final seconds of the round. While Cardenas did survive, he is slowing down and allowing Inoue to pull away with the fight. Cardenas has displayed heart throughout the fight.
Round 8: Inoue came out aggressively to start the round and forced the referee to stop the fight in his favor just 45 seconds into the round. Inoue retains the title.
Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez results
The height difference is what stood out early on with Rafael Espinoza is listed at 6’11 and Edward Vazquez listed at 5’7.’ Espinoza took the first round, but Vazquez displayed some positive moments as well in the WBO featherweight title fight.
As ESPN’s Joe Tessitore mentioned, Rafael Espinoza had recorded 170 punches thrown through the first minute of the third round. Canelo Alvarez threw 152 punches through 12 rounds during his fight on Saturday night.
Espinoza is using his height advantage and finding early success with uppercuts against the shorter Vazquez. Espinoza launched a fury of strikes to the head of Vazquez during the final minute of the fourth round. Vazquez survived the round but took a beating in the process. He didn’t look great walking back to his corner at the end of the round.
Vazquez continued to take similar punishment in the fifth round before returning to his corner with gashes on his nose and under his eye. He was asked to show more fight while he was in the corner.
Espinoza retained his title after he delivered a series of uppercuts to Vazquez before the referee stepped in to stop the fight in the seventh round.
Espinoza landed 207 of his 510 thrown punches. Vazquez landed 123 of 325 punches.
Rohan Polanco vs. Fabian Maidana result
Rohan Polanco was fairly dominant against Fabian Maidana throughout the fight. Maidana was often backed against the ropes throughout the fight. Polanco landed a right-handed body shot in the final minute of the 10th round that brought Maidana to a knee. While Maidana managed to get up, the fight managed to go the distance before Polanco (16-0, 10 KO) was named the winner by unanimous decision.
Emiliano Fernando Vargas vs. Juan Leon result
Emiliano Fernando Vargas earned a TKO victory after making quick work of Juan Leon with a second-round stoppage. Vargas landed a combination of strikes while Leon was in the process of trying to move his head around. Leon made it back to his feet, but was quickly dropped again after a left-handed uppercut by Vargas.
Mikito Nakano vs. Pedro Marquez Medina result
Mikito Nakano produced an impressive showing in his debut fight in America. While the fight did go into the fourth round, Nakano was in full control of the fight, knocking Marquez down twice within the final minute of the second round. He dropped him again for a third time with an uppercut with 1:50 left in the next round.
Nakano put Marquez away with a body shot with 1:19 left in the fourth round. While Marquez made it back to his feet to beat the count, it was only a matter of seconds before Nakano went back on the attack with another body shot that dropped Marquez to a knee. The official stopped the fight, giving Nakano (13-0, 12 KO) the TKO victory.
Naoya Inoue’s pre-fight cake
While there’s a level of anticipation for Naoya Inoue’s return to an American boxing ring, Inoue was spotted in his locker room eating cake nearly three hours before his fight.
The broadcast team did mention that Inoue brought a personal chef with him to Las Vegas. It’s unclear if the cake serves any purpose besides a pre-fight cheat snack.
Art Barrera Jr. vs. Juan Carlos Guerra Jr result
Art Barrera Jr. earned the victory over Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. by TKO. The referee stopped the fight early in the sixth round after Guerra was not putting up much of a fight. The official warned Guerra before the start of the final round that he wanted the boxer to show some defense, or he would be forced to stop the fight.
Barrera improves to 9-0 with seven of his victories coming by knockout.
Ra’eese Aleem vs. Rudy Garcia result
Ra’eese Aleem got the best of Rudy Garcia in the latter rounds of the fight. Garcia was spotted with a cut along his face while in his corner ahead of the 10th and final round of the fight. Aleem was declared the winner by unanimous decision.
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas time
The fight-fight main card is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET, with preliminary fights beginning at 6:15 p.m. ET.
Where is the Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas fight location?
The Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas fight takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
How to watch Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas fight
The main event will air on ESPN and be streamed on ESPN+ and Disney+. Preliminary bouts can be streamed on ESPN+.
Watch Inoue vs. Cardenas with ESPN+
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas card start time
- Preliminary card: 6:15 p.m. ET / 3:15 p.m. PT (ESPN+)
- Main card: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (ESPN/ESPN+)
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas fight card
Preliminary card
- Cruiserweight: Patrick O’Connor (23-7, 0KOs) vs. Marcus Smith (2-1, 2KOs)
- Welterweight: Rohan Polanco (15-0, 10 KOs) vs. Fabian Maidana (24-3, 18 KOs)
- Junior welterweight: Emiliano Fernando Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) vs. Juan Leon (11-2-1, 2 KOs).
- Featherweight: Mikito Nakano (12-0, 11 KOs) vs. Pedro Marquez Medina (16-1, 10 KOs).
- Junior middleweight: Art Barrera Jr. (8-0, 6 KOs) vs. Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. (6-1-1, 2 KOs).
- Featherweight: Ra’eese Aleem (21-1, 12KOs) vs. Rudy Garcia (13-0-1, 2 KOs)
Main Card
- WBO featherweight title: Rafael Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs) vs. Edward Vazquez (17-2, 4 KOs)
- Undisputed junior featherweight title: Naoya Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) vs. Ramon Cardenas (26-1, 14 KOs)
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas fight odds
All available odds are for moneyline bets (as of Sunday afternoon), according to BetMGM.
Preliminary card
- Cruiserweight: Patrick O’Connor -10000; Marcus Smith +1400
- Welterweight: Rohan Polanco -1400; Fabian Maidana +650
- Junior welterweight: Emiliano Fernando Vargas -10000; vs. Juan Leon +1400
- Featherweight: Mikito Nakano -1100; Pedro Marquez Medina +550
- Junior middleweight: Art Barrera Jr. -2500; Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. +900
- Featherweight: Ra’eese Aleem -1600; vs. Rudy Garcia +600
Main Card
- Featherweight: Rafael Espinoza -1400; Edward Vazquez +650
- Junior featherweight: Naoya Inoue -10000; Ramon Cardenas +1200
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas predictions
CBS Sports: Naoya Inoue via KO5
Brent Brookhouse writes, ‘Let’s be honest, Inoue is a -10000 favorite. There’s not much doubt who is going to get the win on Sunday. Cardenas winning would upend the boxing world. The real problem for Cardenas is that he is not a big puncher. Beating Inoue would almost certainly require catching him clean with a big shot because Inoue is such a good boxer beyond his elite punching power.’
Forbes: Inoue wins by KO
Trent Reinsmith writes, ‘The betting pick is that Naoya Inoue will continue his run of winning fights via knockout.’
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas live stream
The full fight card will be available for live stream on ESPN+.
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas price
The Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas card is available on ESPN+. You can subscribe to ESPN+ for $11.99 on a monthly subscription and $119.99 on an annually.
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas: Tale of the tape
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