Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas Live Winners and Results

Naoya Inoue is the best fighter you may have never seen.

But the Japanese "Monster," who'd stopped 26 of 29 opponents while racking up titles in four weight classes, took another step toward boosting his profile to match his accomplishments on Sunday night in Las Vegas.

Now 32 years old, Inoue traveled to the T-Mobile Arena to make his fourth appearance on U.S. soil and the fourth defense of his undisputed, four-belt status at 122 pounds against the WBA's No. 1 contender, once-beaten Ramon Cardenas.

He'd fought for belts of one significance or another in each of his last 24 fights and earned hardware at 108, 115 and 118 pounds before climbing to 122 in 2023. That made it no shock he was a -5000 favorite at DraftKings, which meant it would have taken a $5,000 wager on him to recoup a $100 profit if he'd won the fight.

The B/R combat team was in position to witness the carnage that topped a seven-bout card. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.

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.

It wasn’t a surprising result given his status as a bigger underdog than Buster Douglas against Mike Tyson, but the mettle he showed impressed everyone, including his rival.

“I knew he was tough,” Inoue said, “and boxing isn’t easy.”

Cardenas proved that point with a counter left hand that dropped Inoue to his knees with about a minute to go in Round 2. Inoue immediately rose and didn’t seem in imminent danger, but he was far more defensively conscious going forward.

The challenger kept winging hard counters in the aftermath but never landed another truly significant shot and began showing the impact of the champion’s relentlessness.

“I knew he was gonna come back and I knew he was gonna come back stronger,” Cardenas said. “It wasn’t so much more the power, it was more the overwhelmingness of his throwing six, seven, eight punches at a time.”

Cardenas was dropped by a series of right hands late in the seventh, and the end came less than a minute into the eighth when another prolonged flurry forced the hand of referee Thomas Taylor just 45 seconds in.

“Watching the fight tonight, I think everyone is very much aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said. “I was able to calmly put myself together (after being knocked down) and from thereafter I made sure I didn’t take that shot again.”

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a viable opponent for Inoue.

Featherweight title claimant Rafael Espinoza made a case for a spot at the front of the line of “Monster” suitors with a clinically violent seventh-round finish of challenger Edward Vazquez.

A freakishly tall 126-pounder at 6’1”, Espinoza used every bit of a six-inch height advantage to strafe his gutty foe with hard blows from distance and uppercuts and body shots from closer range, ultimately beating him into a rescue from referee Harvey Dock at 1:47 of the session.

It was a 27th straight win and third successful title defense for the talented Mexican, who threw 520 punches and landed 207, exactly seven dozen more than his opponent.

“I knew I was gonna have to dig in my bag and show what I’m capable of,” he said. “These fans deserve a show, and this is Cinco de Mayo weekend.”

And as for a duel with his high-profile contemporary, mark him down as a yes.

“For there to be a birth of the next Mexican idol, they have to go through the best fighters,” Espinoza said. “That’s what would catapult me into stardom.”

Fabian Maidana has a famous sibling.

Older brother Marcos Maidana had a 10-year career, claimed titles of varying significance in two weight classes and finished his run with a pair of scraps with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Along the way, he was known and respected for his grittiness and will to win.

Not everything, though, is genetic.

The younger brother had his hands full with welterweight prospect Rohan Polanco, and he wore his sagging emotions on his sleeve on the way to a shutout decision loss.

The 32-year-old Argentine started well enough but was listless in the middle rounds, drooped his shoulders in front of a pleading training in his corner, and looked content to survive to the final bell in a fight in which he was dropped once and out-landed, 121 punches to 55.

To his credit, he was dropped with a body shot in Round 10 but rose to finish.

“Sometimes you just don’t have what it takes,” analyst Tim Bradley said. "It’s a talent disparity.”

Father's Day is still more than a month away.

But Emiliano Vargas gave his old man an early present.

The 21-year-old son of former two-time world champion Fernando Vargas was particularly noticeable on an undercard full of stoppages, dumping junior welterweight foe Juan Leon twice in the second round on the way to a TKO at 1:40.

It was his 14th win and 12th KO in a career that began three years ago when he was a mere teenager.

The first knockdown resulted from a slick three-punch combination finished by a left hook to the forehead, and the finale came seconds later when a hard left crashed directly into Leon's jaw, sent him tumbling to his knees and prompted referee Robert Hoyle to intervene before he attempted to rise.

It all left Bradley, a Hall of Famer with two weight-class titles of his own, quite impressed.

"I see that his skills are improving. He's developing. He's getting better," Bradley said. "Talent when you put the work behind it can take you places. This kid is on his way."

Mikito Nakano has some lofty goals.

He wants to live up to his "Hands of Steel" nickname. He wants to be a world champion. And he wants to be as good as his countryman, Inoue.

Whether he gets to any of all those goals remains to be seen, but there was nothing about his Sunday night performance that suggests he won't.

The lanky 29-year-old featherweight displayed patience, fundamentals and power against once-beaten Puerto Rican export Pedro Marquez, dropping him five times overall and twice in the fourth round before Dock intervened.

The final two knockdowns came on hard shots to the body, first with a hard left to the belly and soon after with a right to the side, which prompted Marquez to take a step sideways before dropping to a knee and prompting Dock's arrival.

It was a 12th KO in 13 wins for Nakano, who was fighting for the first time in the U.S. and was already highly ranked by the IBF (No. 8), WBA (No. 10) and WBC (No. 10).

Inoue is a Japanese superstar and a pound-for-pound stalwart, and even before he arrived for the main event Sunday's card had an international flavor.

But there were a couple chances for Americans to show their stuff, too.

The first two bouts included a fighter from Michigan against a Californian, while the second had another Californian against a foe from Illinois.

The Golden State came away with a split across its pair, getting a workmanlike sixth-round TKO from unbeaten junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr. over Chicago-based Juan Carlos Guerra Jr., who was stopped for the first time in nine career fights.

Meanwhile, former second-tier featherweight champ Ra'eese Aleem handled his business and represented Muskegon against another Californian, outpointing Rudy Garcia over 10 rounds by unanimous scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 99-91.

Naoya Inoue def. Ramon Cardenas by TKO, 0:45, Round 8

Rafael Espinoza def. Edward Vazquez by TKO, 1:47, Round 7

Rohan Polanco def. Fabian Maidana by unanimous decision (100-89, 100-89, 100-89)

Emiliano Fernando Vargas def. Juan Leon by TKO, 1:40, Round 2

Mikito Nakano def. Pedro Marquez Medina by TKO, 1:58, Round 4

Art Barrera Jr. def. Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. by TKO, 1:15, Round 6

Ra'eese Aleem def. Rudy Garcia by unanimous decision (98-92, 97-93, 99-91)