Naoya Inoue retained his undisputed super bantamweight title in a tough battle against Ramon Cardenas. The pair squared off on May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, rounding out a big boxing weekend.
On his way to victory, the four-weight champion from Japan had to overcome a knockdown after the challenger from San Antonio, TX, landed a big left hand. The firefight went on, and “The Monster” paid back with a right hand in the seventh round, scoring a knockdown of his own.
To save Cardenas from further punishment, the fight was stopped by referee Thomas Taylor in the opening minute of the eighth round, as Inoue was delivering another barrage of strikes. The time of the stoppage was 45 seconds into the round.
With the victory by TKO, 32-year-old Naoya Inoue made the fourth successful defense of his 122-pound title, remained undefeated, and improved to 30-0, 27 KOs. 29-year-old Cardenas didn’t succeed in pulling off an upset and dropped to 26-2, 14 KOs.
Rafael Espinoza TKO’s Edward Vazquez to retain title
In the co-feature, Rafael Espinoza (27-0, 23 KOs) of Mexico defeated Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) of Fort Worth, TX via seventh-round TKO. With the win, Espinoza made his third successful defense of the WBO featherweight title.
Espinoza dominated Vazquez with a flurry of punches, which led to referee Harvey Dock stopping the fight at 1:47 into the round. At the end of the fourth round, Espinoza hurt Vazquez with shots to the head and body.
On Inoue vs Cardenas undercard
Among other Inoue vs Cardenas results, Rohan Polanco (16-0, 10 KOs) of the Dominican Republic defeated Fabian Maidana (24-4, 18 KOs) of Argentina by unanimous decision at welterweight. After 10 rounds, all three judges scored the fight 100-89. In the final round, Polanco, who lifted the WBO Intercontinental title, landed a knockdown with a body shot.
Emiliano Fernando Vargas (14-0, 12 KOs) of Oxnard, CA took a dominant win against Juan Leon (11-3-1, 2 KOs) of Spain, scoring two knockdowns along the way. Vargas first sent his opponent to the canvas with a right hand to the top of the head, and then again with a left uppercut. Although Leon got back up on his feet, referee Robert Hoyle waved the fight off. The time was 1:40 into the second round.
Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) of Japan claimed the win against Puerto Rico’s Pedro Marquez Medina (16-2, 10 KOs) by TKO with body shots. On his way to victory, the Japanese featherweight, who was making his U.S. debut, scored two knockdowns in the second round, one in the third, and two in the fourth. The time of the stoppage was 1:58 in the fourth round.
Art Barrera Jr. (10-0, 7 KOs) of Lynwood, CA stopped Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. (6-2-1, 2 KOs) in the sixth round at middleweight. The time was 1:15 into the round.
Kicking off the action, Raeese Aleem (22-1, 12 KOs) of Muskegon, MI defeated LA’s Rudy Garcia (13-2-1, 2 KOs) by unanimous decision at featherweight. After 10 rounds, the scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 97-93.