Naoya Inoue’s next two opponents will be Ramon Cardenas and former unified champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev
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.
Read the full article here
