Tonight, undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue faces highly rated contender Ramon Cardenas in the main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the co-feature bout, Rafael Espinoza defends his WBO featherweight title against Edward Vazquez in what could be the most entertaining fight on the card. Rohan Polanco fights Fabian Maidana in welterweight action.
The main card starts at 10 pm ET / 7 pm PT on ESPN and ESPN+. The prelims begin at 6:15 ET / 3:15 PT on ESPN+.
Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) is using the Cardenas (26-1, 14 KOs) fight as a warm-up to get him ready for a potentially difficult fight against former unified super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev on September 14th in Tokyo, Japan.
U.S fans would have preferred Inoue to fight Akhmadaliev tonight rather than Cardenas, who is seen as having zero chance of winning. Inoue saves the bigger fight for his Japanese fans and gives Americans the lesser one. The downside for Inoue is that his popularity won’t increase in the U.S, but he might not care. Despite his incredible talent, Inoue isn’t a huge attraction in the States due to his lackluster resume and lack of risk-taking.
Tonight’s Fight Lineup
10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on ESPN and ESPN+
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas
Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez
Rohan Polanco vs. Fabian Maidana
Ra’eese Aleem vs. Rudy Garcia
Preliminary card at 6:15 PM ET / 3:15 PM PT on ESPN+
Mikito Nakano vs. Pedro Marquez
Emiliano Fernando Vargas vs. Juan Leon
Art Barrera Jr. vs. Juan Carlos Guerra Jr.
Patrick O’Connor vs. Marcus Smith
WBO 126-lb champion Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs) and Vazquez (17-2, 4 KOs) could steal the show tonight with their chief support bout. This fight is well-matched and involves entertaining fighters that will go to war. The tall 6’1″ Espinoza has twice beaten two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez. He’s arguably the #1 featherweight in the division.
Welterweight contender Rohan Polanco (15-0, 10 KOs) battles Fabian Maidana (24-3, 18 KOs) in a 10-rounder on the main card. Fabian is the brother of former world champion Marcos Maidana.