Highlights: Naoya Inoue survives knockdown to win an action thriller over Ramon Cardenas

Naoya Inoue remains undisputed after surviving a 2nd round knockdown to finish off Ramon Cardenas by TKO-8

Naoya Inoue got up from just the 2nd knockdown of his pro career to win an all-action thriller in an ESPN main event from Las Vegas, Nevada. Ramon Cardenas showed a sturdy chin, a tenacious heart, and exceptional timing to give fans by far the best show of a stuffed boxing weekend. But, Inoue was just too much for Cardenas to handle, finishing the challenger off early in the 8th round to retain his undisputed super bantamweight titles.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KO) navigated Cardenas’s very fast, sharp jab in the 1st, but started running into trouble in the 2nd. Cardenas (26-2, 14 KO) did quality work inside, bloodying the nose of Inoue in the 2nd and then landing a stunning counter left hand that put Inoue on the canvas.

It was very similar to the counter left that Luis Nery floored Inoue with almost exactly a year ago. And it wasn’t a lucky one-shot miracle, as Cadenas kept clipping Inoue with counters to keep himself viable, and even ahead after 4 rounds on unofficial scorecards from ESPN’s Mark Kriegel and Bad Left Hook.

Inoue shook Cardenas a little in that 4th round, smiling at his success and pressuring the challenger. But, another nice counter in the 5th, this one a right hand, slowed Inoue down and made him think a little bit about his attack.

The 5th was the last real threat from Cardenas, as Inoue hurt him halfway through the 6th and started really unloading. Cardenas fought through it, but took a lot of punishment in the 7th, rallying briefly but suffering a hard knockdown in the final 30 seconds of the round.

Trainer Joel Diaz told Cardenas after the 7th that he had one more round to show something, but it was referee Tom Taylor that stepped in to end it early in the 8th when Inoue put Cardenas on the ropes and unloaded against zero return fire.

It was a fantastic action fight, one where Cardenas earned himself a lot of new fans, and presumably more paydays in the future. As for Inoue, it’s not a great sign that he got caught and knocked down by the same blind counter left hand again. But, he remains one of two men with a claim for greatest active fighter in the sport, and there’s not much else he needs to work on. He can make fixing it a priority in his next camp before the upcoming September fight against Murodjon Akhmadaliev he announced after his victory.

Rafael Espinoza TKO-7 Edward Vazquez

A brilliant performance from Rafael Espinoza, who worked his power and size to slow and ultimately stop a game but overwhelmed Edward Vazquez in the 7th round.

Espinoza (27-0, 23 KO) was just too much across every axis, surviving the in-close aggression Vazquez brought early, then using a violent uppercut and left to the body to break down Vazquez completely. Vazquez (17-3, 4 KO) would start making an argument for himself in almost every round, blocking Espinoza’s jabs to get inside and unleash his attack, only to get caught with a punishing body shot or an uppercut that split his guard, then have to turtle up to survive.

Vazquez is one of the smartest fighters in the game right now, and he obviously came in with a plan to win, not just endure and go the distance. If anything, Espinoza probably won’t get enough credit for the work he did tonight because Vazquez is such an under-the-radar fighter. But, Vazquez didn’t have the power to really punish Espinoza’s defensive lapses, and he couldn’t cover up everywhere at the same time. The power of Espinoza had both Vazquez’s corner and referee Harvey Dock threatening to stop things after the 5th round. Vazquez hung in there a little longer, but wound up cornered without throwing any return fire late in the 7th, which led to a very fair referee stoppage.