Naoya Inoue won the competition battle. But Ramon Cardenas won the perception war. The rugged but comprehensively unheralded Texan scored a shocking knockdown in the second round and gave nearly as good as he got for several more before finally crumbling under the pound-for-pound star’s perpetual wrath in Round 8 of a scheduled 12.

Naoya Inoue's first fight on American soil since 2021 resulted in a successful defense of his undisputed junior featherweight championship against Ramon Cardenas, though the fight was full of unexpected drama.

Naoya Inoue, the undisputed super bantamweight boxing champion, faced a dramatic challenge from Ramon Cardenas on May 4, 2025, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Japanese star, nicknamed “The Monster,