Naoya Inoue reportedly set to face Ramon Cardenas in May, Murodjon Akhmadaliev in September
After Alan Picasso’s abrupt exit forced some schedule shuffling, undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue’s 2025 is reportedly back on track. Keith Idec brings word that Inoue has agreed to face Ramon Cardenas on May 4th in Las Vegas to cap off Riyadh Season’s weekend series, then WBA mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev on September 14th in Japan if he emerges victorious.
Cardenas (26-1, 14 KO), who hasn’t tasted defeat since 2017, is coming off a unanimous decision over undefeated Bryan Acosta on ProBox TV last month. He’s short on high-level experience outside of that win and a 2023 knockout of Rafael Pedroza, but he is Inoue’s highest-rated WBA challenger behind Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KO).
While it’s a disappointing matchup, especially on the heels of another makeshift mismatch against Ye Joon Kim, the extenuating circumstances and the fact that Inoue intends to squeeze two more subsequent fights into 2025 make it more palatable. We’ll let you know once things are official.
The Ring reports Inoue’s two-fight plans for 2025, with the Cardenas and Akhmadaliev matches. Cardenas is being used as a stay-busy fight for Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs)O0 after his original choice, Alan Picasso, chose not to take the fight. Inoue has a habit of delaying the fights that fans want to see him in, and he faces too many low-quality guys. It’s helped Naoya build his 29-0 record, but it’s hurt his popularity outside of Japan. Fans see that Inoue has inflated record, and that he rarely, if ever, takes on the dangerous guys that people want to see him fight. Inoue is unbeaten, but his best career win came against a washed up 36-year-old Nontito Donaire. The rest of Inoue’s victories on his resume have come against lesser opposition. That’s why fans want to see him take the Akhmadaliev fight NOW, then Junito Nakatani before moving up to 126 to face the real threats to his career. Inoue is big enough to fight at featherweight now, and he could easily be campaigning at 130 as well.
