LAS VEGAS - Unbeaten Naoya Inoue of Japan retained his undisputed super bantamweight world crown on Sunday, climbing off the canvas to stop American Ramon Cardenas in the eighth round in Las Vegas.
Inoue improved to 30-0 with his 27th victory inside the distance when referee Thomas Taylor halted the fight 45 seconds into the eighth round after a flurry of powerhouse punches by the champion with Cardenas only able to cover up.
"Watching the fight, everybody is very much aware I like to brawl," Inoue said.
Inoue was knocked down for only the second time in his career, by a left hook from the heavy underdog in the second round, but the champion adjusted and pressed the attack from there.
"I was very surprised but I was able to calmly pull myself together," Inoue said through a translator.
"In the first round, I thought I had pretty good distance but in the second round it kind of got a little loose. And then from then thereafter I made sure I didn't take that punch again."
The 32-year-old Japanese star nicknamed "The Monster" defended his undisputed world title in the 55.3kg division for the fourth time.
The fight marked the his return to Las Vegas for the first time in four years, Inoue fighting outside Japan for the first time since 2021.
Inoue was coming off a fourth-round knockout of South Korea's Kim Ye-joon in Tokyo in January.
Inoue has not been taken to the 12-round maximum distance in a fight since a 2019 unanimous-decision victory over Filipino Nonito Donaire, having won 11 fights since.