LAS VEGAS \u2013 After one boxing newcomer sought to flex his status by staging a card at New York\u2019s Times Square and by shifting Mexico\u2019s most popular fighter to Saudi Arabia the next night, a 93-year-old man sat quietly in a press room, smiling in delight after producing a spine-tingling Sunday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows that just because you have a shitload of money, it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re going to do entertaining, fun fights,\u201d Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum said after stirring TKO finishes recorded at T-Mobile Arena by his undisputed junior-featherweight champion Naoya Inoue and unbeaten featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know, being in this business, that if you don\u2019t entertain the public and give them exciting fights, your clientele is going to drift off. It apparently isn\u2019t their business. They have some other idea of what they\u2019re doing that I really don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arum is referring to Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh\u2019s highly panned Friday and Saturday cards that were filled with lucrative purses but devoid of drama (and punches), leaving the fate of the traditional boxing weekend to this third and final show, staged in its usual place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did the things I wanted to do for the people to be entertained,\u201d Mexico\u2019s Espinoza said after combining with challenger Edward Vazquez to land 330 punches in the seven-round fight \u2013 just 14 less punches thrown in the 36 combined rounds of three of Alalshikh\u2019s high-profile bouts (Canelo Alvarez-William Scull, Ryan Garcia-Rolly Romero, Devin Haney-Jose Ramirez).<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be the next Mexican idol,\u201d Espinoza 27-0 (23 KOs) said. \u201cIn order to achieve that, I need to have great fights. I want to demonstrate that. This was more than pressure. It was about excitement. I knew if I gave everything, people would notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew [those other] fights this weekend weren\u2019t that good, but I told myself I\u2019m going to try to steal the night, and I think we did it. We saved this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Espinoza even stuck around to serenade the crowd of 8,000-plus with a variety of Spanish songs, while Japan\u2019s Inoue 30-0 (27 KOs) air-gunned T-shirts out to the masses following his captivating bout.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
By comparison, Arum reasoned that Alalshikh sabotaged his own shows.<\/p>\n
Not only did he foolishly turn his back on millions in live-gate earnings by not going to Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center in favor of a curtained-off, chain-link fence spot allowing for an audience of 300 in Times Square, he set high-profile fighters in three bouts who were eagerly anticipating their next, more lucrative fight.<\/p>\n
In that scenario, said Arum, \u201cthere\u2019s no incentive for guys to take risks. The next fighter\u2019s lined up, with money that\u2019s already set.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arum was pointing directly at both Alvarez, who formally announced his planned September 12 bout with fellow four-division champion Terence Crawford after defeating Scull, and Garcia and Haney, who were supposed to be headed to a rematch before Romero upset Garcia by unanimous decision.<\/p>\n
The fate of Garcia-Haney II is now unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Alvarez] had already been promised $100 million to fight Crawford. Why would he take a chance [versus Scull]?\u201d Arum asked of a bout that offered the least total punches in CompuBox\u2019s 40-year history of tracking 12-round fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s terrible for boxing. The incentive to look great is gone, and the only sure way to get to the great money is to not engage in a fight,\u201d Arum said. \u201cCanelo has shown in his last few fights that he\u2019s just a businessman.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake Haney. \u2026 That fight was an absolute disgrace. He came in there knowing he had to fight Garcia next, and so [Devin\u2019s father-trainer Bill] Haney instructed his fighter to not take a lot of chances, give him a lot of movement. You\u2019re with a guy whose best days are behind him. Stink up the joint. It doesn\u2019t matter, because he cashes Turki\u2019s check,\u201d Arum said. \u201cThat was an awful fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The polar opposite was Inoue overcoming a second-round knockdown by 15\/1 betting underdog Ramon Cardenas of San Antonio to unleash a final, hammering barrage that led to the TKO when Cardenas slumped backward in his corner during the eighth round.<\/p>\n
\u201cCardenas was much stronger and tougher than I expected,\u201d Inoue said. \u201cThis was the [weekend’s] most attractive fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inoue revealed his inner warrior by rising from the canvas to batter and drop Cardenas in the seventh, setting up the finish.<\/p>\n
As he anticipates a September 14 date in Tokyo versus former unified 122lbs champion Murodjon \u201cM.J.\u201d Akhmadaliev and a May 2026 bout against unbeaten countryman and bantamweight champion Junto Naklatani, Inoue told BoxingScene he does not anticipate a move up to featherweight to meet either Espinoza or someone like fellow 126lbs champion Nick Ball, who was rumored as a December foe in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as I can make the weight in this division, I will stay in this division,\u201d Inoue said.<\/p>\n
Given that 115lbs champion Jesse \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez is intrigued to move up in weight for Inoue, along with the presence of the coming opponents and Cardenas, the decision appears highly logical.<\/p>\n
Cardenas\u2019 manager, Mike Miller, told BoxingScene Cardenas may move to bantamweight to pursue another title shot, and Cardenas promoter Sampson Lewkowicz said Cardenas has been invited to fight in Japan, where all four 118lbs champions reside.<\/p>\n
Cardenas stunningly dropped Inoue late in the second round, and was deprived of moving to follow up quickly because the bell soon rang after Inoue arose. The champion rallied impressively, pounding Cardenas and skirting wildly flung blows before dropping Cardenas on four consecutive right hands in the seventh.<\/p>\n
At times during the hail of Inoue barrages, Cardenas would smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs funny as it sounds, I love being in there, giving the fans a show,\u201d Cardenas said. \u201cFor me, I\u2019ve dreamt of stuff like this \u2013 fighting on a big card in Vegas. I was just here to give my all. I told my trainer, \u2018If I go out, I go out on my shield.\u2019 I gained a lot of fans because of this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Knowing who carries that attitude matters. Cardenas was driving for Lyft as recently as 2023. He trained mercilessly in the California desert under trainer Joel Diaz, another detail Top Rank\u2019s Hall of Fame matchmakers considered before inviting Cardenas to take the significant fight that marked Inoue\u2019s return to the U.S. after a four-year absence.<\/p>\n
Based on the night\u2019s riveting events, he said he\u2019ll entertain coming back soon.<\/p>\n
And Cardenas knows his stock has risen for going out on his shield. He wrote on X: \u201cHow about this Lyft driver now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Top Rank has been in business since 1966. Turki Alalshikh\u2019s operation is still in hiring mode, making missteps that both boxing insiders and the general public are taking account of.<\/p>\n
Arum fully admitted he, like other promoter peers, would send his fighters to fight for Alalshikh if the money was right for a favorable mismatch.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be honest about it: There\u2019s no medals on any of us in boxing, and if the Saudis offer one of my fighters really big money in a fight I believe will be non-competitive and boring, yeah, I would send him. The money is the money,\u201d Arum said. \u201cThis is a business. We\u2019re not amateurs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the stench of those first two weekend cards was lingering and on the minds of the Sunday combatants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to say sorry to the people about the other fights we saw this weekend, but we came here to bring the fans a great fight,\u201d trainer Diaz said. \u201cI know what I\u2019ve got, and, tonight, Ramon Cardenas showed what kind of warrior he is. Even in a loss, you gain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arum smiled at the contrast, seeing his 21-year-old prospect Emiliano Vargas bounce on his feet while watching Inoue as Friday Times Square winner Teofimo Lopez attended and expressed awe about Inoue\u2019s triumph.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA brilliant performance on a great show, and boxing needed that after swallowing and paying good money for Friday\u2019s show from New York and Saturday\u2019s show from Riyadh,\u201d Arum said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was what boxing is really about. The other stuff defies what it\u2019s about. It\u2019s not entertaining. It\u2019s agonizing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 After one boxing newcomer sought to flex his status by staging a card at New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[37834,1935,4496,4495,7177,7176,79,37835,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-76959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-bob-arum","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-boxing-news","11":"tag-boxingscene","12":"tag-naoya-inoue","13":"tag-ramon-cardenas","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-rank-boxing","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114456306855186515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76959","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=76959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}