Naoya Inoue will face Ramon Cardenas tonight. A win will set ‘The Monster’ up for a fight with MJ Akhmadaliev.
Naoya Inoue returns to the ring after a four-round demolition job on Ye Joon Kim, a late replacement for Aussie Sam Goodman, who withdrew twice from the fight with Inoue.
Inoue’s last 10 fights have come by KO, with his last decision win coming in 2019 in the World Boxing Super Series against Nonito Donaire, whom Inoue lent his trophy after the fight.
The Japanese fighter has established himself as a pound-for-pound elite, and it was in just his sixth fight that viewers got to see quite how good ‘The Monster’ is.
Naoya Inoue lived up to ‘Monster’ nickname with KO over champion who had nine world title fights in three years
In 2014, with a record of just 5-0, Inoue, who mocked British boxer Nick Ball, challenged 29-2-1 Adrian Hernandez for the WBC flyweight world title.
Hernandez was a durable fighter and had fought in nine WBC world title bouts in three years, becoming a two-time flyweight champion after losing his title to Suriyan Satorn, but regaining it in their rematch.
Despite his accolades, Hernandez had very little success against Inoue, who just proved himself to be a level above. By the end of the fifth round, all three judges scored every round to Inoue.
Even though he was cruising to a points win, Inoue wanted to wow onlookers and produced a devastating sixth-round knockout of his seasoned opponent. Inoue beat Hernandez, and went home with the title.
This was the first title win of Inoue’s career. He is now a four-weight world champion and two-weight undisputed champion. Inoue was knocked down by Luis Nery, but besides that has seemed like an indestructible force in boxing.
Naoya Inoue’s next fight will be his 25th consecutive world title fight
Inoue will face Cardenas, who lost to a journeyman, in his 30th fight, though it will also be his 25th world title fight in a row, as he defends his super-bantamweight titles.
Since fighting for his first world title, Inoue has never lost a title or faced an opponent who wasn’t a world champion upon moving up in weight.
He is the number one active boxer in terms of consecutive world title fights, with second place being Terence Crawford with 19.