The balance was restored last night in Las Vegas, this as Japanese superstar and pound-for-pounder Naoya Inoue went to war with a gutsy and ever so strong and dangerous Ramon Cardenas. The slugfest the two super bantamweights engaged in served as a much needed remedy to the sheer and utter boredom fight fans had to endure on Friday night and again on Saturday night, this as punch-stat records for least amount of punches landed were set in fights featuring Rolly Romero, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Jose Ramirez, and Canelo Alvarez and William Scull.
There was nothing but electricity in the ring inside The T-Mobile last night. Inoue, knocked down for just the second time in his career, once again by a left hand, again showed his mettle by getting up and soon firing back with his own bombs.
Inoue, now 30-0(27) rocked Mexican warrior Cardenas in round four, with “The Monster” again hurting his man in the sixth. It was great action, as the brave challenger was willing to trade, this in an effort at landing something big.
But 32 year old Inoue – not only the best or the second best fighter on the planet, but also one of the most consistently thrilling-to-watch operators – was in control in a big round seven, with Cardenas going down from a series of right hands. Cardenas was then stopped with less than a minute gone in round eight. But what a great fight it was, a FOTY contender, for sure.
Now 26-2(14), Cardenas, a former cab driver, can come again. As for Inoue, he was troubled by Cardenas’ size, strength and power, and that talked of move up to featherweight could prove to be a heck of a risk for the unified 122 pound king. Not only that, but Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who is set to face Inoue in September, will have liked what he saw from Cardenas, his left hand especially. “MJ,” a southpaw, carries real power in his own left hand, and now that we have seen Inoue go down twice in his career from left hands (Luis Nery also managing the feat), there will be some thought that maybe Inoue could have a tough time of things against the man from Uzbekistan.
But that fight is still in the future. For now, we fight fans thank Inoue and Cardenas for giving us and the sport the shot in the arm that was so badly needed after a dreary Friday and a dull Saturday. 29 year old Cardenas stood in close and he tried to counter Inoue, while the champion showed again that he can overcome adversity.
But future fights with the likes of Akhmadaliev, Junto Nakatani, and Nick Ball could prove to be career-defining ones for Inoue.
