Inoue vs Cardenas: Fight time, undercard, latest odds, prediction, ring walks tonight

The formidable undisputed super-bantamweight champion is back in the fight capital of the world in Las Vegas for the first time in four years after eight consecutive bouts in his native Japan.

Undefeated Inoue – AKA ‘The Monster’ – was the unified bantamweight titlist on his last visit to the USA in 2021, knocking out Michael Dasmarinas early having also stopped Australia’s Jason Moloney in Vegas eight months earlier.

Now he returns as a four-weight world champion, two-time undisputed king and modern pound-for-pound great who has held all the belts in the 122-pound division since December 2023.

Knockout specialist Inoue has continued to dominate all before him in typically explosive fashion since his latest move up a division, stopping Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales to complete another set of belts.

He has successfully defended his undisputed status against Luis Nery, TJ Doheny and latterly Ye Joon Kim, who was demolished in four rounds in Tokyo back in January after mandatory challenger Sam Goodman twice withdrew due to injury.

Mexico’s WBC mandatory Alan Picasso was originally supposed to be the opponent for Inoue’s return to the US, only to pull out injured as ‘Dinamita’ Cardenas got the nod instead amid rumours over the likes of Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Bryan Mercado.

The American is 26-1 and recorded 14 successive wins since his lone professional loss to Danny Flores in 2017, though he has yet to face anyone approaching anywhere near the level of Inoue after outpointing Bryan Acosta over 10 rounds on his last appearance in his hometown of San Antonio in February.