By Norm Frauenheim
LAS VEGAS — Naoya Inoue stood on the scale like a politician on the bully pulpit Saturday in his first American appearance in about four years for a bout that looks a little bit like a campaign stop in his bid to gain pound-for-pound supremacy.
Pound-for-pound is nothing more than debate, after all. It’s about gaining supporters and knocking out lingering doubts.
Inoue is expected to do both against likable, yet little-known junior-featherweight challenger Ramon Cardenas, a massive underdog who insists he’ll prove to be more than a mere prop Sunday in Inoue’s defense of his undisputed 122-pound title at T-Mobile Arena.
“More than anything, I want people to see something they haven’t been able to see yet in the U.S,” Inoue said through an interpreter before he safely made weight, coming in under the junior-featherweight-limit by a slim tenth-of-a-pound, 121.9, also a tenth-of-a-pound heavier than Cardenas.
Those are bold words. Terence Crawford, an all-time welterweight great and America’s best practitioner of the sweet-science craft, is surely planning to introduce a couple of counter arguments of his own in a planned move up to the scale against Mexican super-middleweight Canelo Alvarez later in the year.
On Sunday, however, Inoue, Japan’s rising son, will have the bully pulpit all to himself in what will be the four-division champion’s 25th successive title defense.
Inoue’s dominance of boxing’s lightest weight classes has been thorough and reliable, so much so that it’s become expected, if not somewhat forgettable.
It’s not, of course. In part, Inoue can reawaken America’s impatient, quick-to-forget audience with a showcase exhibition of a skill set still sharp, comprehensive and dynamic as any.
“I’m very motivated to fight in front of an American crowd in a big arena like this, but because it’s during Cinco de Mayo weekend, it feels like I’m playing an away game,” Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) said a day before the ESPN-televised bout. “So, I don’t know what to expect.”
He can expect skepticism, much of it planted by rival promoter Eddie Hearn, whose noisy criticism of Inoue’s recent string of opponents probably factored into Inoue’s agreement to fight Murodjon “MJ” Akhmadaliev, a feared Uzbek and a former bantamweight champion, next September in Tokyo.
Against Cardenas, there’s a chance to get an updated look at Inoue and how he might withstand a risky challenge from a dangerous Akhmadaliev.
If there are flaws in Inoue, Cardenas hopes to be the first to expose them.
Opportunities like this don’t come around often, so I had to jump at it,” said Cardenas (26-1, 14 KOs), a 29-year-old San Antonio fighter and Akhmadaliev’s stablemate. “I’ve been mentally preparing to fight Inoue for a long time. I knew I’d eventually get a big fight if I kept winning. And here we are — a shot at the undisputed champion of the world.
“This is Inoue’s first fight in America in four years, so I know he’s motivated to show out. I’m prepared for the very best version of Naoya Inoue.”
