[Boxing] Naoya Inoue vs Ramon Cardenas - May 4

[TravelMug]

Sports bookies for now has only one listing, and that is Cardenas is a huge 14:1 underdog in this fight. No disrespect to Cardenas, but he will be just another boxer that Inoue will fight and be destroyed without going into the distance.

I reckon that maybe it will be listed on over/under 4.5 rounds just like in any of his previous fight. As it looks like everyone that Inoue faces in this division is a mismatch. And it's also the main reason why we are calling for his team to go up in another weight class to test how great Inoue is as a fighter. He has clean up this division anyway, so I do not know why he is still fighting at super bantamweight.

Ramon Cardenas is expected to be a huge underdog going into the fight, he is just one stumbling block for Inoue's path to greatness. As a matter of fact, Top Rank and Team Inoue are looking forward to their next fight and that would be against Akhmadaliev, seems that they consider that they will win this one easily which many will agree.

Right, but I can't recall such a huge underdog match for Inoue. I might be wrong though, but as far as I can remember, the odds might be like 8-10 for the underdog. Is the bookmaker underestimating Cardenas here?

Oh it will be good if it will be Akhmadaliev, he is a former champion and should be given the chance as well as Akhmadaliev has also been calling Inoue. Akhmadaliev is not the interim champion, so he has a strong case that he should be next before Inoue jumping to 126 lbs.

[btc_angela]

Nothing will excite me about Inoue as long as he keeps fighting in the 122 pound; there is less or no opposition at all.
The featherweight is the division where all the challenges are, and there is no use delaying going up; he possesses all the qualities, skills, and power to conquer the featherweight division.
This Cardenas fight is another cherry-picked fight and will not excite even his longtime supporters. we all wish that its the last one in the 122 division and he moves on to the higher division, and about Cardenas its the fight of his career but I don't think his experience and power is enough.

Yes, as boxing fans, there's nothing to be excited in seeing another cherry pick fight for Inoue and still at 122 lbs. I remember Bob Arum says that he will go up in weight class and fight the champion there and it will be in the US.

But it's another disappointment for us as it will still be at 122 lbs wherein he has been dominating everyone and no one has even beaten him here.

And with another new name against Inoue, the result might be same and as what someone says, it's just a matter of what round he will scored a knockout.

[Baofeng]

Sports bookies for now has only one listing, and that is Cardenas is a huge 14:1 underdog in this fight. No disrespect to Cardenas, but he will be just another boxer that Inoue will fight and be destroyed without going into the distance.

I reckon that maybe it will be listed on over/under 4.5 rounds just like in any of his previous fight. As it looks like everyone that Inoue faces in this division is a mismatch. And it's also the main reason why we are calling for his team to go up in another weight class to test how great Inoue is as a fighter. He has clean up this division anyway, so I do not know why he is still fighting at super bantamweight.

Ramon Cardenas is expected to be a huge underdog going into the fight, he is just one stumbling block for Inoue's path to greatness. As a matter of fact, Top Rank and Team Inoue are looking forward to their next fight and that would be against Akhmadaliev, seems that they consider that they will win this one easily which many will agree.

That will be the more interesting fight for me, Inoue vs Akhmadaliev. This fight has been cooking before, but when our very own Marlon Tapales beat Akhmadaliev, it was Tapales who was given the chance and Tapales didn't make it to the 12 rounds.

But it will be good that Akhmadaliev will has his due right now. And I think he is the only missing puzzle in Inoue's resume. If he beat Akhmadaliev, he would have beaten current and former champions at 122 lbs and he can say that he had clean up the division for good.

[bbc.reporter]

@Baofeng. Agreed! This fight is in Las Vegas, why did they not communicate with a trashtalker Johnriel Casimero? He is 3rd in the rankings of the WBO. He will certainly cause the fans to become more entertained for the press conferences of the fight heheheh.

Is this a mandatory defense for WBA? Ramon Cardenas is 3rd in the ranking for this WBA organization, I reckon. This fight can be fought in Japan where the Japanese fans will watch vs. amy opponent. This Ramon no one might watch in America despite this being against Naoya Inoue.

[bisdak40]

@bbc.reporter, yeah this is a mandatory fight for Naoya Inoue as ordered by WBA if i'm not mistaken. As you can see in the picture below, the number 1 spot is vacant while Ramon Cardenas is ranked number 2. One thing i don't like with Team Inoue or maybe Top Rank is that they keep feeding Inoue guys who are not popular that could draw crowd in the stadium.

[cabron]

@bbc.reporter, yeah this is a mandatory fight for Naoya Inoue as ordered by WBA if i'm not mistaken. As you can see in the picture below, the number 1 spot is vacant while Ramon Cardenas is ranked number 2. One thing i don't like with Team Inoue or maybe Top Rank is that they keep feeding Inoue guys who are not popular that could draw crowd in the stadium.

Because Inoue is their dog. Nery made it possible anyone in this upper division can knockdown Inoue.  But once they will mandate Inoue I think he will climb up than fighting the interim champ.

He will add the excitement in 126. This is one more weightclass to Tank Davis who was rumored to be fighting him as Top ranks superfight. Time is running out for this match , they need it to happen. But this will not happen if Cardenas upsets their fight.

[btc_angela]

@bbc.reporter, yeah this is a mandatory fight for Naoya Inoue as ordered by WBA if i'm not mistaken. As you can see in the picture below, the number 1 spot is vacant while Ramon Cardenas is ranked number 2. One thing i don't like with Team Inoue or maybe Top Rank is that they keep feeding Inoue guys who are not popular that could draw crowd in the stadium.

Because Inoue is their dog. Nery made it possible anyone in this upper division can knockdown Inoue.  But once they will mandate Inoue I think he will climb up than fighting the interim champ.

He will add the excitement in 126. This is one more weightclass to Tank Davis who was rumored to be fighting him as Top ranks superfight. Time is running out for this match , they need it to happen. But this will not happen if Cardenas upsets their fight.

Yes, Nery put a point here, but in any case, it just shows how good Inoue is as he was able to make a comeback and then knockout Nery out. So another mandatory fight but it seems that Cardenas has no chance to beat Inoue here.

Some of us are even surprised to see his name as he was not known. We are still waiting for him to go up at 126 lbs. We have been wanting to see Inoue go up again and the champion are willing to fight him as he is a pound for pound fighter.

[Dave1]

Is this a mandatory defense for WBA? Ramon Cardenas is 3rd in the ranking for this WBA organization, I reckon. This fight can be fought in Japan where the Japanese fans will watch vs. amy opponent. This Ramon no one might watch in America despite this being against Naoya Inoue.

We don't want to see Inoue fighting in Japan again, that is his comfort zone so we must see how really good he is if he goes and fight in the US after so many years. And the last time he fought in the US, he is not that famous unlike before where he is considered as p4p fighter in the world.

And I think that is the plan of Bob Arum all along, that they will create more hype on Inoue before he fight in the US so that the boxing fans there are excited and willing to watch him and buy his tickets even against a fighter that we are not familiar although he is the mandatory.

[mammusu]

@bbc.reporter, yeah this is a mandatory fight for Naoya Inoue as ordered by WBA if i'm not mistaken. As you can see in the picture below, the number 1 spot is vacant while Ramon Cardenas is ranked number 2. One thing i don't like with Team Inoue or maybe Top Rank is that they keep feeding Inoue guys who are not popular that could draw crowd in the stadium.

The last time I saw inoue face an evenly matched opponent was in his win over Marlon Tapales, although Tapales was loss at the time, but he was able to give inoue a very strong fight up until the 10th round, but after that it was just like you said where it seemed like inoue started playing it safe and targeting opponents that were not as good as him, so this sparked a lot of comments and criticism from boxing fans including inoue fans, who want to see their hero face a more balanced opponent, instead of fighting Cardenas, I am actually more interested in seeing inoue face Akhmadaliev in the next fight later.

[goldkingcoiner]

This is one big cherry-picked fight for Inoue, Who is this Ramon Cardenas and who has he fought, He may have a good record to show, but its not the record that counts but who has he fought and beat?
This is not a contest on who will win, but what round will Inoue knock out this guy, This is a show-off figth instead of a title fight because this Cardenas is out of Inoue's league.
After this fight I'm sure there will be a strong clamor for Inoue to go up.

Ever since Inoue was bought by the Saudis with a $19.7 million sponsorship deal, I have not been expecting him to have any challenging fights but rather cherry-picked "promotional campaigns" that were easy wins.

Same as now. Ramon is definitely going to lose, and Inoue is going to walk away looking good.

It is a bit of a shame, really. But an easy, predictable bet at least.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

@bbc.reporter, yeah this is a mandatory fight for Naoya Inoue as ordered by WBA if i'm not mistaken. As you can see in the picture below, the number 1 spot is vacant while Ramon Cardenas is ranked number 2. One thing i don't like with Team Inoue or maybe Top Rank is that they keep feeding Inoue guys who are not popular that could draw crowd in the stadium.

The last time I saw inoue face an evenly matched opponent was in his win over Marlon Tapales, although Tapales was loss at the time, but he was able to give inoue a very strong fight up until the 10th round, but after that it was just like you said where it seemed like inoue started playing it safe and targeting opponents that were not as good as him, so this sparked a lot of comments and criticism from boxing fans including inoue fans, who want to see their hero face a more balanced opponent, instead of fighting Cardenas, I am actually more interested in seeing inoue face Akhmadaliev in the next fight later.

You forget about Nery, as Inoue for the first time was sent into the canvass. He doesn't look hurt though, but it was the first time that he was caught with a counter and went down with a 8 count.

Against Tapales it was a back and forth fight, but it was obvious that Tapales doesn't have any knockout power and that's why even if he hit Inoue openly, Inoue just brushed that shot and was not affected. While his total accumulation of volume on Tapales was too much specially those body shots that took it's damage overtime.

[bbc.reporter]

@bbc.reporter, yeah this is a mandatory fight for Naoya Inoue as ordered by WBA if i'm not mistaken. As you can see in the picture below, the number 1 spot is vacant while Ramon Cardenas is ranked number 2. One thing i don't like with Team Inoue or maybe Top Rank is that they keep feeding Inoue guys who are not popular that could draw crowd in the stadium.

This is the business tactics of Bob Arum, also I speculate that Naoya Inoue's team is also in agreement with these tactics, However, I predict that within 2 years, Naoya will express his real feelings on Bob Arum's tactics and declare that he wants to leave Top Rank.

This is very much Bob Arum's similar treatment to Bud Crawford because Bob does not consider these boxers as human beans. He considers them something similar to cryptocoins in his wallet where they should only create profit hehehehe.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

We can see again Inoue outside of his protected land, this is a good fight, a much better one than having it in Japan.
Though the opponent might be weaker than what we are looking for this is a good chance for the untitled warrior.
But i think Inoue will go higher weight once he gets the belt and i will not see the Inoue vs Casimero in the making.

[Darker45]

We can see again Inoue outside of his protected land, this is a good fight, a much better one than having it in Japan.
Though the opponent might be weaker than what we are looking for this is a good chance for the untitled warrior.
But i think Inoue will go higher weight once he gets the belt and i will not see the Inoue vs Casimero in the making.

It would be interesting indeed to watch Naoya fight outside of his most comfortable zone once more, in front of a largely foreign crowd. But I don't think this is something that Cardenas would benefit a lot from. In all of Naoya's US fights, none went the distance. Cardenas shouldn't commit the error of taking confidence from Naoya's fighting outside his home country. It matters very little.

Naoya and Casimero will most probably never meet inside the ring. The main reason is that Casimero doesn't belong to Naoya's league. But don't worry about weight. Casimero won't remain in 122. Otherwise, he'll be fighting with penalties again for coming overweight.

[Finestream]

What can we expect? As long as Inoue is still dominating at 122 lbs, his fights will continue to be one-sided.

I don’t know how long he plans to defend this division, but maybe it’s time for him to move up to 126 lbs and challenge some champions. It’s getting repetitive already, every fight feels like a mismatch. I mean, where’s the fun and excitement in that?

[FinneysTrueVision]

You forget about Nery, as Inoue for the first time was sent into the canvass. He doesn't look hurt though, but it was the first time that he was caught with a counter and went down with a 8 count.

Against Tapales it was a back and forth fight, but it was obvious that Tapales doesn't have any knockout power and that's why even if he hit Inoue openly, Inoue just brushed that shot and was not affected. While his total accumulation of volume on Tapales was too much specially those body shots that took it's damage overtime.

Nery, Fulton and Tapales were all very good opponents, so it is not like Inoue is only fighting cab drivers. It is just that everything looks like a mismatch when you are so superior. Even if he moved to featherweight, we would see more of the same. He already beat Fulton and Nick Ball looked very average against Doheny, who Inoue already beat easily. Espinoza and Leo aren’t at the elite level either, so even if he fought those champions there will still be critics who say he is cherry picking.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

You forget about Nery, as Inoue for the first time was sent into the canvass. He doesn't look hurt though, but it was the first time that he was caught with a counter and went down with a 8 count.

Against Tapales it was a back and forth fight, but it was obvious that Tapales doesn't have any knockout power and that's why even if he hit Inoue openly, Inoue just brushed that shot and was not affected. While his total accumulation of volume on Tapales was too much specially those body shots that took it's damage overtime.

Nery, Fulton and Tapales were all very good opponents, so it is not like Inoue is only fighting cab drivers. It is just that everything looks like a mismatch when you are so superior. Even if he moved to featherweight, we would see more of the same. He already beat Fulton and Nick Ball looked very average against Doheny, who Inoue already beat easily. Espinoza and Leo aren’t at the elite level either, so even if he fought those champions there will still be critics who say he is cherry picking.

I like the Leo fight though for Inoue, this is going to be a big test for him when he decided to move up in featherweight. And I can also say that there is some hype on Leo specially on how he beat the former champion Luis Lopez.

But Leo has to defend his belt against the mandatory in a Japanese fighter, Kameda so that is a banger of a fight as well. Rey Vargas might be a good test for Inoue as he hasn't fought the likes of a very tall and lanky fighter. So everything makes exciting for us if Inoue will go up in weight class after winning against Ramon Cardenas.

[TravelMug]

We can see again Inoue outside of his protected land, this is a good fight, a much better one than having it in Japan.
Though the opponent might be weaker than what we are looking for this is a good chance for the untitled warrior.
But i think Inoue will go higher weight once he gets the belt and i will not see the Inoue vs Casimero in the making.

Yes, but he is facing a opponent that is not that huge and looking at the odds, is a big underdog.

We also wanted to see Inoue vs Casimero, but it seems that Inoue is really ducking Casimero or they think that Casimero doesn't deserved the fight. To clean up the division as what his goal his, is to fight Casimero and then Akhmadaliev. This two will be the closing fight for Inoue before he can call that he is indeed the best of the super bantamweight division.

[gunhell16]

The original opponent was supposed to be WBC mandatory Alan Picasso, but his father rejected the fight because he didn’t think he was ready for Inoue. Cardenas has not lost in 8 years and his record is decent enough to be ranked by several organizations, but there is nothing about him that leads me to believe he will be too competitive.

The fight will take place on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas, so it might not be the most pro-Inoue crowd in attendance. I won’t count Cardenas out completely, but it is unlikely we see something like Tank Davis getting exposed by a massive underdog. This is ultimately a showcase where the most probable outcome is Inoue winning in a very convincing manner.

That's just your opinion and conjecture, but it doesn't mean that Inoue will win straight away. It's difficult to underestimate an opponent because, typically, the person who underestimates ends up winning; the person who anticipated significant chances or advantages in the fight ends up losing;

how often have such assessments actually occurred? Because of this, we won't truly know the outcome of the fight until it takes place in the actual ring.
Naturally, both combatants will read each other and assess their ability to endure blows and identify any flaws.

[btc_angela]

The original opponent was supposed to be WBC mandatory Alan Picasso, but his father rejected the fight because he didn’t think he was ready for Inoue. Cardenas has not lost in 8 years and his record is decent enough to be ranked by several organizations, but there is nothing about him that leads me to believe he will be too competitive.

The fight will take place on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas, so it might not be the most pro-Inoue crowd in attendance. I won’t count Cardenas out completely, but it is unlikely we see something like Tank Davis getting exposed by a massive underdog. This is ultimately a showcase where the most probable outcome is Inoue winning in a very convincing manner.

That's just your opinion and conjecture, but it doesn't mean that Inoue will win straight away. It's difficult to underestimate an opponent because, typically, the person who underestimates ends up winning; the person who anticipated significant chances or advantages in the fight ends up losing;

For me everyone has his own opinion in this fight. But our opinion could be base on something that we know of, Inoue hasn't lose any fight yet, although being knockdown but come back strong.

how often have such assessments actually occurred? Because of this, we won't truly know the outcome of the fight until it takes place in the actual ring.
Naturally, both combatants will read each other and assess their ability to endure blows and identify any flaws.

Very much every fight of Inoue, as he is the overwhelming favorite in almost of his high profile fights. And not only us, but it was the odd makers that put Inoue significantly as the outstanding favorite. So it's not just we call Inoue as the favorite out of thin air. There is still compelling evidences from his previous fights and the quality of his opponents in the past.