Andreas Halemay 5, 2025, 02:06 AM ET
CloseanDreas Hale is ESPN’s Combat Sports Reporter. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and professional wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, gets obsessed with music, and is a fan of the White Sox and 49ers. He is also the host of Sirius XM’s Phytonation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer for Dazn and Sporting News. He began his career as a music journalist for outlets such as Hiphopdx, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also a filmmaker who was nominated for the NAACP Image Award in 2024 as the producer of the animated short film Bridge.
LAS VEGAS – Heading towards Sunday evening, what was thought to be one of boxing’s biggest weekends turns out to be the absolute dad with top stars Canelo Alvarez, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, who failed to impress. Luckily, Naoya Inoue answered the phone and saved the weekend with an emotional performance against many credible Ramon Cardenas by bringing a fight to the “monsters”. Inoue successfully maintained the indisputable junior featherweight championship with the exciting eighth Cardenas halt at T-Mobile Arena and solidified himself as a must-see fighter. He may not have Garcia’s social media or Canelo’s global star power, but Inoe’s performance on Sunday may have secured his position as the sport’s most exciting fighter at the moment.
Compubox Punch Statistics
PunchesinoucardEnastotal landed17680total thrown462290percent38.1%27.6%jabslanded6838percent28.1%22.2.2%power landing10845power shrown220132percent49.1%34.1%34.1%
There is everything in the fight that will have a great contest, Inoe has to pick herself up from the canvas of Round 2, and Cardenas shows incredible grit and determination before finally succumbing to Inoe’s overwhelming pressure. Most importantly, it was a crowd pleaser that fans remember as ESPN’s 2-pound pound for pound fighters saved boxing from what became a miserable weekend.
The best part is that Inoue continues to produce many of these performances as he pursues his goal of making history. Despite being one of three uncontroversial male boxers in two weight classes, Inoue is unsatisfied and immediately tries to tease his move to featherweight, making it incontroversial with the unprecedented third weight class. Before that, he was dumped alongside Murodjon “MJ” Akhmadaliev in Tokyo in September, and a showdown with Bantamweight Champion Junto Nakatani is scheduled for 2026.
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What makes Inouye special, however, is that he not only came to win, but also aims to squeeze the opposition and prevent the judge from opposing the outcome. His 90% knockout rate is impressive for small fighters, and he continues to build up finishes against more harsher opposition, including Stephen Fulton, Marlon Tapalais and Lewis Nellie. He is currently riding 11 knockout streaks (all in title fights) and shows no signs of slowing down. He creates life-changing power from smaller weight classes and adds the fact that unlike some of his counterparts who competed this weekend, you have a clear recipe for a global superstar who is aesthetically pleasing and willing to throw away.
Simply put, Innoe is not one of the best fighters in the world, and he is one of the most exciting ones.
