(Steve Marcus via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS — Naoye Inoue climbed off the canvas Saturday to add another brutal knockout to his highlight reel, overcoming Ramon Cardenas in the eighth round of a wild super bantamweight fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
With the victory, Inoue retained the undisputed super bantamweight world championship. He arguably won even more.
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Combined with Cardenas, the 122-pounders threw 752 shots on ESPN, rather than pay-per-view, and reminded fighters like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, William Scull and Devin Haney that boxing doesn’t have to be boring. Cardenas came to win big in Vegas, and it made for a memorable night.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said after advancing his punch-perfect boxing record to 30-0 (27 KOs).
“The fans here were supportive and great. And I hope I was able to entertain them.”
Inoue epitomized entertainment, creating a raucous atmosphere as the 8,474 people who attended exchanged chants of “Me-hi-co” and “In-ou-e.”
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Though Inoue won all the rounds except the second, he didn’t have it all his own way, as Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) snapped his head back with jabs, and dropped the Japanese champion with a left hook counter.
“I was very surprised [at the knockdown],” said Inoue of the blip. “From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue rebounded with ease in the third, and subsequent rounds. He had a robotic rhythm to his punching that was hypnotic to watch, firing shots and snapping his gloves back to defend any blows coming back. His ringcraft was on point, as he forced Cardenas into vulnerable positions — the ropes or the corner — and threw three- to six-punch combinations with the worst of intentions.
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Inoue had Cardenas on the deck in the seventh after throwing right hand after right hand until the challenger wilted in the red corner.
From there, it was only a matter of time. And Inoue barely even needed a full minute in the eighth round to force a referee’s stoppage. It was all over.
“I knew he was tough,” Inoue said of Cardenas. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the co-main event also found out how tough the sport of boxing really is as he was matched against the 6-foot-1 featherweight Rafael Espinoza (27-0, 23 KOs), who bruised and bloodied Vazquez until he dropped him to the floor, scoring his knockout win in the seventh round before serenading the crowd with a Cinco de Mayo sing-song after retaining his WBO featherweight championship.
Other notable results included the continued rise of super lightweight prospect Emiliano Vargas (14-0, 12 KOs), who showcased his power at 140 pounds with a second-round knockout win over Juan Leon (11-3, 2 KOs).
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Get complete Inoue vs Cardenas results and highlights below, as well as Uncrowned’s round-by-round play-by-play of the main card.
Main card
Undisputed super bantamweight championship: Naoya Inoue def. Ramon Cardenas by eighth-round TKO | Watch video
WBO featherweight championship: Rafael Espinoza def. Edward Vazquez by seventh-round TKO | Watch video
Welterweight: Rohan Polanco def. Fabian Andres Maidana by unanimous decision (100-89 x 3)
Featherweight: Ra’eese Aleem def. Rudy Garcia by unanimous decision (98-92, 97-93, 99-91)
Featherweight: Mikito Nakano def. Pedro Marquez Medina by fourth-round TKO | Watch video
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Super lightweight: Emiliano Vargas def. Juan Leon by second-round TKO | Watch video
Super welterweight: Art Barrera Jr. def. Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. by sixth-round TKO | Watch video
Cruiserweight: Patrick O’Connor vs. Marcus Smith did not fight
