Sunday, May 4

LAS VEGAS – Naoya Inoue’s performance in victory over Ramon Cardenas has, perhaps harshly, divided opinion. BoxingScene witnessed one of the world’s three finest active fighters (he is competing with Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford to be considered the first, but there is little question that of the three he is the most flawed) consistently entertain in a largely dominant performance against an opponent who had been under-appreciated and proved the perfect complement to what will almost certainly remain Inoue’s highest-profile fight in the US.

Post-fight Sampson Lewkowicz, Cardenas’ co-promoter, told BoxingScene that Akihiko Honda, the co-promoter of Inoue, had already expressed a desire to see Cardenas fight again, in Japan. Inoue-Cardenas had represented a competitive and yet one-sided fight – until the concussive conclusion Cardenas remained ambitious and continued to pose a threat, but beyond the stunning second-round knockdown, Inoue was largely dominant. That his superb technique impressed as much in the eighth round as it did in the first was particularly relevant. Equally relevant, particularly in 2025, is that not only did Inoue again show signs of decline – judged against his very, very high standards – as he did 12 months earlier against Luis Nery, but that he showed that again moving up in weight would not be wise.

It is little coincidence that, regardless of the reality that he is a fighter who takes risks, he has been knocked down twice in his past four fights at 122lbs. It also should not be overlooked that by fighting so far above 108lbs, the weight at which he won his first world title in 2014, he risks ageing more rapidly than had he remained lighter – nor that he is an aggressive, offensive fighter considerably more focused on hurting his opponent than of evading anything he might have to absorb in exchange and that it is defence-minded fighters who typically have lengthier careers.

That a fantasy fight with Gervonta “Tank” Davis, not only a lightweight but one who is both particularly big and explosive at 135lbs, continues to be speculated about is almost irresponsible, not least given an all-Japanese contest with the 118lbs Junto Nakatani is so much more realistic and the most appealing fight that can be made today (Davis, similarly, has rivals in his division considerably more capable of testing him).

It is difficult not to remember similar suggestions being made when Vasiliy Lomachenko, an even greater fighter at his peak – and one whose first language also wasn’t English, therefore undermining his marketability in the West – having to fight well beyond his natural weight division to earn the money and appreciation his considerable talents demanded and to recognise that he is another who perhaps continues to not get the credit he truly deserves.

Bob Arum, Inoue’s other co-promoter, previously told BoxingScene that he can see Inoue fighting at 126lbs in 2026, potentially after a fight with Nakatani. Inoue said at Friday’s weigh-in that he expects to one day fight at featherweight too. But Arum is every bit as effective at promoting fighters as Inoue is at stopping them; he will also know that Inoue is subtly declining, that his 6ft 1ins featherweight Rafael Espinoza might prove far too big for the 5ft 5ins Japanese icon, and that by such a time as the second half of 2026 there may be greater value to Top Rank in Inoue enhancing Espinoza’s reputation than him making further defences of his undisputed title at 122lbs.

Incidentally, the nature of the victory over Cardenas meant that Inoue, in recording his 23rd stoppage in world-title fights, surpassed the record previously held by the heavyweight Joe Louis. Fighting and performing as he did in the US has already enhanced his legacy, but it seems particularly fitting that he achieved that record at the T-Mobile Arena, so close to Caesar’s Palace and where the statue of Louis stands.