Naoya Inoue's first fight on American soil since 2021 resulted in a successful defense of his undisputed junior featherweight championship against Ramon Cardenas, though the fight was full of unexpected drama.

Naoya Inoue won the competition battle. But Ramon Cardenas won the perception war. The rugged but comprehensively unheralded Texan scored a shocking knockdown in the second round and gave nearly as good as he got for several more before finally crumbling under the pound-for-pound star’s perpetual wrath in Round 8 of a scheduled 12.