LAS Vegas hosts a Cinco de Mayo spectacle on May 4, but Mexico’s pride, Canelo Alvarez, is off throwing punches in the Middle East. Stealing the Sin City spotlight at the T-Mobile Arena is Japan’s 5ft 5ins destroyer, Naoya “The Monster” Inoue, a knockout artist with no interest in scorecards, unlike Canelo’s distance-going tendencies.
Inoue, 29-0 (26 KOs), returns to American soil for the first time since 2021, when he obliterated Michael Dasmarinas in three rounds at T-Mobile Arena. Back then, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin were posturing at a NATO Summit, but today’s U.S. political circus, led by Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump, feels like a Louis Theroux mockumentary. Thankfully, Inoue’s fists promise to pause the nation’s soap opera, if only for a few blistering minutes.
Ramon “Dinamita” Cardenas, 26-1 (14 KOs), would rightly scoff at talk of a one-round demolition. The Texan earned his shot at Inoue’s undisputed super bantamweight crown with a gritty 10-round war against Bryan Acosta in February. Yet, convincing anyone—outside Cardenas’ camp—that he can leap from Acosta to toppling Inoue is as fanciful as Trump receiving a standing ovation at a papal funeral.
The fight is a study in contrasts. Inoue, 32, is a four-division champion whose technical brilliance and concussive power have made him a pound-for-pound deity. Cardenas, 29, is a gritty contender, ranked No. 1 by the WBA, with a 14-fight win streak but no experience against elite opposition. The stakes are simple: a win for Inoue sets up a September clash with Murodjon Akhmadaliev with Junto Nakatani or Nick Ball waiting for him at the end of the year, while Cardenas aims to etch his name in history.
Boxing fans know Naoya Inoue’s formula: blistering speed, surgical precision, and bone-crushing power. This walking nightmare has dismantled far tougher foes than Ramon Cardenas. It goes as far back as 2014, when Omar Narvaez learned this the hard way, crumpled in two rounds by Inoue’s WBO super flyweight title-winning body assault, his midsection seemingly shattered by a single, venomous left hook. Cardenas, despite his determination, faces a mountain no-one has successfully scaled.
Since Narvaez, Inoue has ascended to undisputed glory at bantamweight and now super bantamweight, his 26 knockouts in 29 fights a testament to his evolution. Cardenas’ task will grow steeper with each passing round he lasts. Yet, Inoue’s rare lapses—overconfidence cost him a knockdown against Luis Nery in 2024—offer a glimmer of hope. Mastering that hubris is a tightrope act, one Cardenas must exploit to defy the odds.
Cardenas’ path to victory is a long shot. He must survive the early storm, using lateral movement to avoid Inoue’s power shots. Landing a counter left hook, as Nery did, could create a fleeting chance, but Cardenas must capitalise with aggression, not caution. His heart and power do make him a credible challenger, but Inoue’s blend of skill and savagery is unparalleled.
Inoue will lure Cardenas into a firefight, his heart fueling belief in an upset. Yet, once the “Monster’s” devastating power lands, Cardenas’ head will scream retreat. Hopes of glory will morph into hurt, dreams into devastation, as Inoue’s relentless fists turn ambition into a brutal reality check.
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas Fight Prediction
The Texan’s dream run ends in a sixth-round TKO, as Inoue’s body attack and relentless pressure prove too much. The “Monster” roars on, eyeing bigger prey in a 2025 landscape which should become more challenging for one of the sport’s elite.
