Naoya Inoue Beats Ramon Cardenas to Retain Undisputed Junior Featherweight Title

A disappointing weekend for boxing was saved at the very end by rising star Naoya Inoue.

In the main event of Sunday's Top Rank Boxing card, Inoue remained undefeated and retained his undisputed junior featherweight championship with an eighth-round TKO win against Ramon Cardenas in a thriller at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He improved to 30-0 with 27 knockouts.

During a star-studded weekend that featured the likes of Ryan Garcia and Canelo Alvarez, it was Inoue who shined the brightest. Garcia's loss to Rolando "Rolly" Romero and Alvarez's lackluster performance in a win against William Scull paved the way for the former four-weight world champion to steal the show, and he did just that.

Inoue faced some early adversity when he was knocked down near the end of the second round with a counter left hook by Cardenas. It was just the second time in his career that he was knocked down.

From there, Cardenas showed a ton of heart as he tried to pull off what would've been a monumental upset.

However, Inoue showed why he's one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world with an incredible wave of power punches. He scored a knockdown of his own in the seventh round with a hard combination. "The Monster" put together an onslaught that left Cardenas overwhelmed, and the referee saw enough to stop the fight 45 seconds into the eighth round.

Inoue landed 108 power punches in the fight. Credit should be given to Cardenas, who withstood an incredible barrage in his first career title bout and did his best to play spoiler.

However, the night and the weekend belonged to Inoue, who showed what high-level boxing should look like. Sunday's showcase was a clear contrast to the disappointing performances by some of the sport's biggest stars. Inoue and Cardenas put on a high-action contest that excited fans all over the world.

Inoue is one of the fastest-rising stars in all of boxing, and Sunday's performance will increase his popularity even further. He said in his post-fight interview that he plans to return to the ring in September, and now more fans will be tuning in to see him do what he does best.