Mexico\u2019s WBC mandatory Alan Picasso was originally supposed to be the opponent for Inoue\u2019s return to the US, only to pull out injured as \u2018Dinamita\u2019 Cardenas got the nod instead amid rumours over the likes of Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Bryan Mercado.<\/p>\n
The American is 26-1 and recorded 14 successive wins since his lone professional loss to Danny Flores in 2017, though he has yet to face anyone approaching anywhere near the level of Inoue after outpointing Bryan Acosta over 10 rounds on his last appearance in his hometown of San Antonio in February. <\/p>\n
Inoue is already planning a future jump to featherweight in the likely event that he brushes aside Cardenas, with Liverpool\u2019s WBA champion Nick Ball on his radar along with former unified super-bantamweight champion Akhmadaliev – whom Eddie Hearn has claimed he will fight next, likely in September – and of course Japanese rival Junto Nakatani.<\/p>\n
Inoue vs Cardenas is part of a busy schedule of boxing on Cinco de Mayo weekend, coming after Ryan Garcia\u2019s shock defeat against Rolly Romero<\/a> in Times Square in New York on Friday night on a card also containing rival Devin Haney, plus Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez\u2019s first fight in Riyadh on Saturday as he became undisputed champion for the second time<\/a> at super-middleweight against IBF title-holder William Scull, teeing up a massive September super-fight with Terence Crawford.<\/p>\n Inoue vs Cardenas fight date and venue<\/p>\n Inoue vs Cardenas takes place tonight on Sunday May 4, 2025 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p>\n Inoue vs Cardenas fight time and ring walks<\/p>\n In the UK, the action begins at 1am BST in the early hours of the morning on Early May Bank Holiday Monday. That\u2019s 8pm ET and 5pm PT in the United States on Sunday night, 10am on Monday morning in Japan.<\/p>\n Main event ring walks for Inoue vs Cardenas are expected at approximately 4am BST, 11pm ET, 8pm PT and 12pm JST. As ever, the exact timings are subject to change.<\/p>\n How to watch Inoue vs Cardenas<\/p>\n TV channel: In the UK, the event is being shown live on Sky Sports. Coverage begins at 1am BST on Monday morning.<\/p>\n Live stream: Those with a Sky Sports subscription can also watch live online via the Sky Go app.<\/p>\n Inoue vs Cardenas undercard<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s long undercard is headlined by undefeated Mexican Rafael Espinoza defending his WBO featherweight world title for the third time against Edward Vazquez.<\/p>\n Naoya Inoue vs Ramon Cardenas<\/p>\n Rafael Espinoza vs Edward Vazquez<\/p>\n Rohan Polanco vs Fabian Maidana<\/p>\n Emiliano Vargas vs Juan Leon<\/p>\n Mikito Nakano vs Pedro Marquez<\/p>\n Art Barrera Jr vs Juan Carlos Guerra Jr<\/p>\n Ra\u2019eese Aleem vs Rudy Garcia<\/p>\n Patrick O’Connor vs Marcus Smith<\/p>\n Inoue vs Cardenas prediction<\/p>\n Once again and as the odds certainly reflect, it would be an almighty upset if Inoue were to walk away anything other than an emphatic winner this weekend.<\/p>\n The Monster is 29-0 with 26 knockouts and aside from a shock early visit to the canvas against Luis Nery a year ago in a fight in which he quickly rebounded to win in the sixth round, has not been subject to a real sustained test since that unforgettable war with the great Nonito Donaire in 2019.<\/p>\n Knockout artist: Naoya Inoue stopped replacement opponent Ye Joon Kim in the fourth round in January<\/p>\n AP<\/p>\n He is 24-0 in world title fights with 22 stoppages, while Cardenas was not even the first-choice opponent for this return to the US.<\/p>\n He may have won 14 fights in a row, but has definitely never faced anyone approaching the caliber of Inoue, who is eyeing the No1 spot on the consensus pound-for-pound list over the likes of fellow two-time undisputed champions Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk.<\/p>\n Inoue will be targeting a signature statement stoppage back Stateside to tee up much bigger fights to come, and it would take a brave man to bet against it.<\/p>\n Inoue to win by early knockout.<\/p>\n Inoue vs Cardenas weigh-in<\/p>\n Weigh-ins for Sunday night\u2019s card took place on Saturday. <\/p>\n Inoue came in at 121.5 pounds, with Cardenas slightly heavier but still inside the limit at 121.8 pounds.<\/p>\n Inoue vs Cardenas latest odds<\/p>\n Inoue to win on points or by decision: 11\/2<\/p>\n Inoue to win by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification: 1\/10<\/p>\n Cardenas to win on points or by decision: 90\/1<\/p>\n Cardenas to win by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification: 45\/1<\/p>\n Odds via Betfair (subject to change).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The formidable undisputed super-bantamweight champion is back in the fight capital of the world in Las Vegas for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,7177,1144,7176,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-75446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-naoya-inoue","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-ramon-cardenas","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114453090423871460","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/naoyainoueyejoonkim24012025c-jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n