Naoya Inoue bought up from simply the 2nd knockdown of his professional profession to win an all-action thriller in an ESPN foremost occasion from Las Vegas, Nevada. Ramon Cardenas confirmed a sturdy chin, a tenacious coronary heart, and distinctive timing to offer followers by far the most effective present of a stuffed boxing weekend. However, Inoue was simply an excessive amount of for Cardenas to deal with, ending the challenger off early within the eighth spherical to retain his undisputed tremendous bantamweight titles.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KO) navigated Cardenas’s very quick, sharp jab within the 1st, however began working into bother within the 2nd. Cardenas (26-2, 14 KO) did high quality work inside, bloodying the nostril of Inoue within the 2nd after which touchdown a surprising counter left hand that put Inoue on the canvas.
It was similar to the counter left that Luis Nery floored Inoue with nearly precisely a 12 months in the past. And it wasn’t a fortunate one-shot miracle, as Cadenas stored clipping Inoue with counters to maintain himself viable, and even forward after 4 rounds on unofficial scorecards from ESPN’s Mark Kriegel and Dangerous Left Hook.
Inoue shook Cardenas just a little in that 4th spherical, smiling at his success and pressuring the challenger. However, one other good counter within the fifth, this one a proper hand, slowed Inoue down and made him suppose just a little bit about his assault.
The fifth was the final actual menace from Cardenas, as Inoue damage him midway via the sixth and began actually unloading. Cardenas fought via it, however took quite a lot of punishment within the seventh, rallying briefly however struggling a tough knockdown within the ultimate 30 seconds of the spherical.
Coach Joel Diaz advised Cardenas after the seventh that he had yet one more spherical to point out one thing, but it surely was referee Tom Taylor that stepped in to finish it early within the eighth when Inoue put Cardenas on the ropes and unloaded towards zero return hearth.
It was a improbable motion struggle, one the place Cardenas earned himself quite a lot of new followers, and presumably extra paydays sooner or later. As for Inoue, it’s not an ideal signal that he bought caught and knocked down by the identical blind counter left hand once more. However, he stays certainly one of two males with a declare for best lively fighter within the sport, and there’s not a lot else he must work on. He could make fixing it a precedence in his subsequent camp earlier than the upcoming September struggle towards Murodjon Akhmadaliev he introduced after his victory.
Rafael Espinoza TKO-7 Edward Vazquez
A superb efficiency from Rafael Espinoza, who labored his energy and dimension to gradual and finally cease a sport however overwhelmed Edward Vazquez within the seventh spherical.
Espinoza (27-0, 23 KO) was simply an excessive amount of throughout each axis, surviving the in-close aggression Vazquez introduced early, then utilizing a violent uppercut and left to the physique to interrupt down Vazquez utterly. Vazquez (17-3, 4 KO) would begin making an argument for himself in nearly each spherical, blocking Espinoza’s jabs to get inside and unleash his assault, solely to get caught with a punishing physique shot or an uppercut that break up his guard, then should turtle as much as survive.
Vazquez is among the smartest fighters within the sport proper now, and he clearly got here in with a plan to win, not simply endure and go the space. If something, Espinoza most likely gained’t get sufficient credit score for the work he did tonight as a result of Vazquez is such an under-the-radar fighter. However, Vazquez didn’t have the ability to actually punish Espinoza’s defensive lapses, and he couldn’t cowl up all over the place on the similar time. The ability of Espinoza had each Vazquez’s nook and referee Harvey Dock threatening to cease issues after the fifth spherical. Vazquez hung in there just a little longer, however wound up cornered with out throwing any return hearth late within the seventh, which led to a very reasonable referee stoppage.
