TOKYO, Japan, March 16 ------ Japan’s unbeaten Naoya Inoue will fight in Las Vegas for the first time in four years when he takes on American Ramon Cardenas in May, promoters Top Rank said. The 31-year-old "Monster" will defend his undisputed super-bantamweight world titles in his first fight outside of Japan since 2021.
Inoue's last bout was a fourth-round knockout of South Korea's Kim Ye-joon in Tokyo in January, which saw the Japanese fighter take his record to 29-0 with 26 KOs. The 29-year-old Cardenas has a 26-1 record, winning 14 by KO. His most recent fight was a unanimous decision win over Mexico's Bryan Acosta last month.
Inoue has fought eight times in Japan since his last overseas bout, a KO win over Filipino Michael Dasmarinas in Las Vegas in June 2021. He is also expected to fight in Saudi Arabia later this year after signing a sponsorship deal with Riyadh Season. Inoue said he was mentally "exhausted" after beating Kim in a fight that had to be reorganized twice.
Inoue was originally scheduled to face Sam Goodman in December, but the fight was postponed when the Australian suffered a cut above his eye in training. Goodman was then forced to withdraw after reopening the cut, with Kim being parachuted in as a last-minute replacement.
Source: philstar.com
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