WHEN Ramon Cardenas was halted by Naoya Inoue during the early hours of Monday morning, some eyebrows were raised by the decision to stop the fight, but Cardenas’s trainer Joel Diaz has now denied suggestions that Thomas Taylor’s intervention was early.
Cardenas, 26-2 (14 KOs), was understandably written off by the masses prior to his meeting with Inoue, 30-0 (27 KOs), but the San Antonio-based challenger proved himself to be a worthy contender with an eye-catching performance despite defeat.
‘Dinamita’ became just the second man to drop Inoue in a professional ring when he scored a dramatic knockdown in the second round and appeared to have ‘The Monster’ buzzed.
Yet, as many of the greats do, Inoue rallied and recovered to re-assume control of the contest but was put to the test by the Texan throughout the first half of the bout, before dropping the game challenger at the end of the seventh.
In the Cardenas corner, Diaz could then be heard telling his fighter that he must stay off the ropes and that he would give him one more round to improve against an Inoue who was accelerating through the gears in hot pursuit of an 11th consecutive win inside the distance.
However, the decision to pull Cardenas out was taken away from Diaz just 0:45 seconds into the eighth round, as a flurry of shots rained in from the champion and convinced Taylor to step in and wave off the fight.
Despite Taylor’s call receiving some criticism from fans and fighters on social media, Diaz informed Boxing News that he had no issues with the decision and that the referee ‘beat him to it’.
“I was going to stop it anyways because I didn’t want him to be taking punches on the ropes. I told him after the previous round that I was going to stop the fight if he [Cardenas] stays on the ropes.
“I was about to stop it when the referee beat me to it.”
Nevertheless, Cardenas has rightfully received many plaudits and has certainly proved the naysayers wrong and earned another shot on the big stage, with fights against the likes of Luis Nery and Marlon Tapales being suggested.
