To say that Naoya Inoue looks unstoppable would be an understatement. The Japanese phenom, of course, is undefeated so far, and its difficult to imagine him losing. After all, the definition of a generational talent; the Japanese phenom can do it all and has almost no holes in his game.
Blessed with exceptional power for a fighter who fights at 122 pounds, along with his high Fight IQ, nimble footwork, technical brilliance, and dynamic creativity, ‘The Monster’ has more than lived up to his moniker—so far at least. His upcoming opponent, WBC super bantamweight contender, Ramon Cardenas will try to change that in their upcoming May 4, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas clash. Will the Texas native succeed? Well, that is the question we will try to answer in this article.
Predicting Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas: Who has better stats, record, and measurements?
As you will expect of guys fighting in the same weight class, there isn’t a lot separating Naoya Inoue and Ramon Cardenas. Both have almost identical measurements, with ‘The Monster’, who stands at 5’6″, having a slight height advantage over the 5’5″ ‘Dinamita’. And that slight height advantage is carried over in their reach, as the Japanese phenom has a 67.5′ wingspan compared to Cardenas’ 67′ reach.
The 32-year-old Inoue is a bit older than the American, who is 29 at the moment, but except for that, but that isn’t significantly enough to really give Cardenas the athletic advantage. Both of course, weigh-in at or just below the 122 pound super bantamweight limit for their fights, and fight in orthodox stances.
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As far as their record goes, the undefeated Inoue is 29-0 at the moment, while Cardenas has suffered one loss—a majority decision loss to Danny Flores in 2017– and has a professional record of 26-1. But the starkest difference in their records is Inoue’s stupendous 89.6% knockout rate, which has seen him stop all but three of his opponents in his pro career. With that out of the way, let us now get to the meat of the matter—who do we think will win the fight?
Inoue vs. Cardenas final prediction
We’re sure it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that we think Naoya Inoue will beat Rafael Cardenas in their May 4 undisputed super bantamweight clash. We see virtually no path to victory for Cardenas since Inoue is better than him in every aspect you can care to name—power, skill, technique, footwork, head movement, ring IQ.
But this is boxing and anything can happen. If Cardenas can manage to hang around, he could well give Inoue problems, and spring a knockout, especially since Inoue likes to entertain and isn’t scared of taking risks. Maybe Cardenas could capitalize on one of those risks taken by the Japanese phenom and make a Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas level upset happen. But what makes us think that that isn’t likely is that Cardenas doesn’t have the type of power required to do that.
So we predict another win for Inoue, probably via a stoppage in the mid-rounds after ‘The Monster’ has broken down and overwhelmed the American contender with his brilliance and unrelenting pressure. What do you think of our prediction for Inoue-Cardenas?
The post Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas Stats Comparison and Prediction: Record, Height, Reach, Weight, and Knockout Ratio appeared first on EssentiallySports.
