Naoya Inoue vs. Ramón Cárdenas: The Japanese Monster returns to the US ring with a big goal in mind for 2025.

A weekend packed with top-level boxing concludes on Sunday, an unusual day for the sport, with the return to the United States of Naoya Inoue , one of the current top pound-for-pound fighters. The Japanese boxer will defend his four super bantamweight titles against Texan Ramón Cárdenas at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas . The event, which will feature an Argentine presence, will be broadcast on ESPN2 starting at 9 p.m.

Twenty-nine consecutive victories since his professional debut just under 13 years ago ; 26 knockouts, including 10 in a row in the last five years; 24 victories in fights with at least one world title at stake; and 10 world crowns have transformed Inoue into a superstar in Japan , where he spent most of his career. This Sunday's fight will be only the fifth time he will fight outside his home country and the fourth time he will do so in the United States (the previous time was in Scotland).

His first appearance on North American soil was on September 9, 2017, when he retained his WBO super flyweight title for the sixth time by knocking out American Antonio Nieves in the sixth round in Carson, California. This was the undercard bout of an evening that featured a rematch between Thailand's Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Nicaragua's Román González .

His second performance in the United States came in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic : on October 31, 2020, he knocked out Australian Jason Moloney in the seventh round at a deserted and gloomy MGM Grand in Las Vegas, due to restrictions on crowds imposed by the virus. That fight, in which the Japanese fighter retained his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation bantamweight titles, began the streak of 10 knockout victories that the Monster will try to extend this Sunday.

#OTD in 2020, @NaoyaInoue_410 stopped Jason Moloney via R7 KO to retain his unified titles 💥🏆 pic.twitter.com/5xx68DB2fY

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) October 31, 2022

The multi-time champion's last appearance on US soil, already in front of an audience at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, was on June 19, 2021, when he knocked out Filipino Michael Dasmariñas in the third round. Since then, 1,415 days have passed in which neither Inoue nor his promoter, former world minimum wage champion Hideyuki Ohashi (president of Ohashi Promotions), felt any particular need to leave Japan.

Liver... Liver... Game Over, #AndStill within 3 rounds.

Try not to win while watching this. @naoyainoue_410 is just on another level. 👹🇯🇵 #InoueDasmarinas pic.twitter.com/hIl1G9MQPo

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 20, 2021

The numbers seem to justify that decision. According to a report by the specialized publication Sportico , the Asian received income in 2024 of 42 million dollars , which made him the sixth highest-paid boxer in the world , only surpassed by Tyson Fury (147 million), Oleksandr Usyk (122 million), Saúl Álvarez (73 million), Anthony Joshua (60 million) and Jake Paul (48 million). An unthinkable fact for a fighter of his weight and impossible to achieve in the United States, a territory quite refractory to fights in small divisions, but not in Japan. An example of this was the fight between Inoue and the Mexican Luis Nery , which in May of last year drew more than 50,000 people to the Tokyo Dome.

Despite this, Inoue, gentlemanly as ever, expressed his delight in this return to the United States. “It took me four years to come back, and I'd like to do it again sooner rather than later. It's very important to me; I want to fight more here,” he said last week during a press conference in Los Angeles before traveling to Las Vegas.

This Sunday's match won't, a priori, be the most challenging of the Japanese fighter's career. His opponent, who has a record of 26 wins (14 before the limit) and one loss, has a 14-game winning streak since his only setback, in April 2017 against Danny Flores, but his resume doesn't feature any notable names.

Cárdenas, born 29 years ago in San Antonio and nicknamed Dinamita , will be competing in his first world title bout, entering it as the number one ranked WBA fighter and as the organization's Continental Latin American champion. His last appearance was on February 8th, when he narrowly defeated Mexican Bryan Acosta on points, knocking him down in the seventh round. Three months later, he will face one of the best fighters on the planet in a fight in which only a risk-taker would be willing to put a coin toss on him.

Always the favorite, Inoue will face the second of four fights included in the ambitious plan he and his promoter have drawn up for 2025 , an unusual number for any champion these days. The first was his fourth-round knockout of South Korean Ye Joon Kim in January in Tokyo.

Assuming Cárdenas won't be a risky challenge, the third fight of the year is already scheduled for September 13 in Tokyo. On that occasion, the opponent will be Uzbekistani Murodjon Akhmadaliev , interim WBA champion, who as an amateur was a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and as a professional was the unified WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion from 2020 to 2023 (losing the belts to Filipino Marlon Tapales).

The September fight was confirmed by Eddie Hearn , Akhmadaliev's promoter. "Deal done, finally! Uzbek power against the Monster . Best fight in the division," the Matchroom Boxing CEO wrote on Twitter on Thursday. A few hours later, the Japanese fighter confirmed it: "That's final: the next fight is in September against MJ (Akhmadaliev)."

If all goes according to plan, Inoue, who signed a sponsorship contract with the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority six months ago, will fight in Riyadh in December. While there's no certainty about his opponent, last week the Japanese fighter mentioned British WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball and his compatriot Junto Nakatani, World Boxing Council bantamweight champion, as potential opponents.

In one of the supplementary fights on the card at the T-Mobile Arena, scheduled for 10 rounds in the welterweight category, Santa Fe native Fabián Andrés Maidana , a man with experience in high-profile events and on big stages, will challenge undefeated Dominican Rohan Polanco , who is trying to make his way to a world title opportunity.

Maidana, 32, with a record of 24 wins and three losses, will be making his 14th fight in the United States. His last fight was exactly a year ago: on May 4, 2024, he lost on points to Texan Mario Barrios in a fight for the WBC interim welterweight title. Following that, the younger brother of former champion Marcos Chino Maidana scored two consecutive victories in Argentina, against Mexicans Francisco Mercado and Jesús Rubio.

Polanco, 26, is ranked 10th in the WBO welterweight rankings and 15th in the WBC rankings. The Los Alcarrizos native has won all 15 of his professional fights (10 by knockout) and has matches against four Argentine opponents on his career record: Gabriel Puñalef Calfín, Jonathan Eniz, Ronan Sánchez, and Marcelino López.