-
Andreas Hale
LAS VEGAS — Heading into Sunday night, what was alleged to be one of many largest weekends in boxing had turned out to be an absolute dud with high stars Canelo Alvarez, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney failing to impress. Thankfully, Naoya Inoue answered the decision and saved the weekend with an electrifying efficiency towards Ramon Cardenas, who deserves a ton of credit score for bringing the struggle to “The Monster.” Inoue efficiently retained his undisputed junior featherweight championship with an exciting eighth-round stoppage of Cardenas at T-Cell Area, and cemented himself as a must-see fighter. Whereas he could not have the social media following of Garcia or the worldwide star energy of Canelo, Inoue’s efficiency on Sunday could have secured his place as essentially the most thrilling fighter within the sport proper now.
The struggle had all the pieces that makes an awesome contest, with Inoue having to select himself up off the canvas in Spherical 2 and Cardenas exhibiting unbelievable grit and willpower earlier than lastly succumbing to the overwhelming stress of Inoue. Most significantly, it was a crowd-pleasing struggle that followers will bear in mind as ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter saved boxing from what was shaping as much as be a disastrous weekend.
The perfect half is that Inoue will proceed producing extra of those performances as he pursues his objective of constructing historical past. Regardless of being one among three males’s boxers who’ve been undisputed in two weight lessons, Inoue is not content material and has teased a transfer to featherweight quickly, the place he’ll try to grow to be undisputed in an unprecedented third weight class. Earlier than that, he’ll throw down with Murodjon “MJ” Akhmadaliev in Tokyo in September and is anticipated to have a showdown with fellow Japanese fighter, bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani in 2026.
However what makes Inoue particular is that he would not simply come to win, he goals to please by throttling the opposition and stopping the judges from weighing in on the end result. His 90% knockout fee is spectacular for a small fighter, and he has continued to pile on the finishes towards harder opposition, akin to Stephen Fulton, Marlon Tapales and Luis Nery, amongst others. He’s now using an 11-fight knockout streak — all in title fights — and has proven no indicators of slowing down. Add in the truth that he generates life-changing energy from the smaller weight lessons and you’ve got a transparent recipe for a worldwide famous person that’s aesthetically pleasing and prepared to throw down, in contrast to a few of his counterparts who competed this weekend.
Merely put, Inoue is not simply among the finest fighters on the planet, he is one of the crucial thrilling.
