Left Hook Kryptonite Strikes Again: Inoue’s Defensive Flaws Cast Shadow Over Future Dominance

Naoya Inoue 30-0, 27 KOs) had a tougher time than expected in defeating Ramon Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) by an eighth-round knockout on Sunday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Tonight, Inoue needed his offense to bail him out when Cardenas knocked him down in round two. That knockdown came from a left hook. That punch is proving to be Inoue’s kryptonite. He was hurt by the same shot as Luis Nery and Nonito Donaire. Inoue leaves himself open for that punch by dropping his guard.

Knockdown Scare

For the second time in the last four fights, ‘Monster’ Inoue found himself on the deck after getting nailed by a left hand. Cardenas landed a left that kept Naoya on the canvas until the count of seven. He was lucky that there wasn’t more time left on the clock because Cardenas looked like he would have finished the job in that round.

It’s good that Inoue later came back to wear down Cardenas to get a hasty referee stoppage in the eighth round. However, this fight showed that Naoya lacks the chin to defeat elite-level fighters if he moves up to featherweight. After tonight’s scare, I doubt that Inoue will move up to the 126-lb division because they hit too hard in that weight class.

Even if he stays at super bantamweight to play it safe, he won’t be able to continue on much longer before he’s knocked out by one of the young contenders. The fight tonight showed that if Naoya moves up to featherweight, he won’t excel in that division unless he’s matched even more carefully than he already is by his promoters.

Featherweight Doubt

Inoue can’t be thrown in with WBO 126-lb champion Rafael Espinoza and perhaps not even WBA champ Nick Ball. They hit too hard, and they would take advantage of Naoya’s weak chin. If Naoya does choose to stubbornly go ahead with his plan on going up to 126 to capture more belts, he needs to stay away from these sharks:

Nick BallRafael EspinozaBruce CarringtonAngelo LeoOtabek KholmatovBrandon Figueroa