Saturday, May 3
LAS VEGAS – The anticipation surrounding Sunday’s undisputed junior-featherweight title fight between Naoya Inoue and Ramon Cardenas at T-Mobile Arena meant that the public, ceremonial weigh-in staged at the ballroom of the MGM Grand on Friday afternoon was oversubscribed.
Top Rank, which is promoting Inoue-Cardenas, announced on Friday morning that the first 200 in the queue would be allowed in. Despite that knowledge, once 200 – not including media, boxing industry professionals, fighters and their friends and families – were in, a crowd considerably higher in number formed outside of the entrance to the ballroom and stretched almost as far as the exit that leads to the considerably more appealing swimming pool outside of the MGM Grand.
If that was one demonstration of the interest in Inoue and Sunday’s contest, another could be seen inside. Not only was that 200-strong crowd largely of Asian descent, among those present elsewhere in the ballroom were Marco Antonio Barrera and Inoue’s former opponent Nonito Donaire – great fighters present to witness another great.
The fighters weighed in behind closed doors at 8.45am. Chris Algieri, who is commentating on Sunday and has previously covered Cardenas’ progress for ProBox TV, saw little reason that that presented the naturally bigger Cardenas with an advantage, but he revealed that he detected nerves in the challenger to Inoue’s crown.
“I don’t think it matters much with these guys,” he told BoxingScene. “Naoya Inoue’s a very, very disciplined guy – this is his third or fourth weight class. I don’t think he struggles that much. Ramon, I’ve called many of his fights – he also does not struggle to make the weight.
“Inoue looked freaky. Super-lean, muscular. He’s got big legs. Definitely looked strong for the weight. Cardenas looked like Cardenas – a lot of the time, Mexican fighters don’t have the most chiseled physiques, but I thought he looked lean in his midsection. Both look to be fit. But Inoue’s something else – he’s built out of different things.
“Cardenas looked good. His eyes didn’t look sunken in when I got to speak to him afterwards. A lot of times when guys cut a lot of weight, you can almost see the light is out of them. I didn’t see that in Ramon. He looked good to me.
“[But] that was the very first time I saw Ramon look nervous. I’ve seen him look cool, calm and collected this whole week – but as I was walking off the stage, I did see some nerves. The eyes. I could just tell – the stare looked different. It’s both [Inoue and the occasion]. But I could have just caught him at a moment that was a temporary lapse.
“You can tell Inoue’s a real superstar. He’s used to doing these interviews. He’s just going through the motions. With Ramon, there’s a lot of passion. It’s his first time here, but he seems ready for it.
“This feels big. For a weigh-in … Japan’s a long way. It is a Cinco de Mayo weekend – it’s not a Canelo [Alvarez] weekend. A Canelo weekend on Cinco de Mayo is all week long – it’s great. It’s not that vibe. But that was a great turnout for a weigh-in.”
The media presence typically grows in size as a fight week progresses. It was notable at Saturday’s weigh-in that many had arrived earlier in the day from New York, where they had attempted to attend the promotion headlined by Ryan Garcia-Rolando “Rolly” Romero; each who spoke to BoxingScene spoke of their disappointment in what had taken place.