Ramon Cardenas saved boxing. Or, he at least made the biggest weekend the sport has seen in years memorable for good reasons. But damn, he took a beating along the way.

Cardenas, obviously overmatched by Japanese opponent Naoya Inoue in everything but heart, knocked the mythically powerful champ down with a lightning-quick and savage left hook in the second round of their thrilling and brutal super bantamweight title fight Sunday in Las Vegas. And for a few moments, the 29-year-old, 122-pound Texan seemed on the verge of pulling off one of boxing’s biggest all-time upsets. 

But Inoue got off the canvas and brushed himself off, and the bell ending the round sounded just seconds later. And by the next round, Inoue got back to doing what he does: knocking other little guys out. 

Cardenas, despite taking power punches to every inch from his abdomen to his forehead from the Far Eastern assassin, was not only still standing, but throwing bombs up until referee Thomas Taylor saved him from himself and more punishment from the all-time great Inoue by waving an end to the fight in the eighth round. At the time of the stoppage, Inoue was up 68-63 on the cards of all three ringside judges. That means Cardenas won only the second round. But he’s gonna get work after this performance.

“I’m not ashamed of losing, because I went out on my shield,” Cardenas, now 26-2, said after his first loss in eight years. “He’s a fucking great fighter.”

In retaining his title, Inoue improved to 30-0, with an amazing 27 knockouts. At 32 years old, he’s long been a rock star in his homeland, but only recently began getting his due, or even noticed, by the world outside. This was his first fight in the U.S. in four years. Boxing needed Inoue’s performance. It came at the end of a rare three-day stint where more of the world was looking at the sport than usual. And what a let-down the rest of the weekend was.

The worst came during the Friday Night Fights portion, bizarrely held in Times Square. As it turned out, the setting was the only part of the entire dreadful shindig that provided any drama. None of the three billed fights was worth the time, let alone the $59.99 pay-per-view fee. 

The opener, Teofimo Lopez vs. Arnold Barboza Jr., was the only fight on the bill that going in was expected to be close. It was anything but. Lopez kept his super lightweight titles by winning a thrill-free unanimous decision; one judge gave just two of the 12 rounds to Barboza. 

Saying Lopez-Barboza was the best bout ain’t saying anything good. The card’s low point came with Devin Haney’s match with Jose Carlos Ramirez. Haney, the 140-pound champ, was predicted to win in a walk, and did, but seemed like he was auditioning for Dancing with the Stars from the opening bell onward. He hadn’t fought since getting pounded in a loss to Ryan Garcia in Brooklyn a year ago, and showed throughout that he had too much talent and too many tools for Ramirez to hit him. But Haney also showed zero interest in ever hitting Ramirez. 

Jim Lampley, a boxing hall of fame broadcaster who worked the pay-per-view broadcast after a seven-year hiatus from ringside calls, provided some entertainment by flaunting his disgust. After hearing the ring announcer declare the Haney-Ramirez winner using his nickname as “Devin …’The Dream’… Haney!” Lampley huffed: “In order to dream, you must be asleep. And Devin just put a lot of people to sleep.”

Hell, come to think of it, Dancing with the Stars has more violence than Haney’s bout. 

Lampley and lots of others who witnessed Ryan Garcia’s upset loss to Rolly Romero in the Times Square nightcap described it with some version of “stunning.” But what will be remembered most about Garcia’s performance is its wholesale lacklusterness. Losing isn’t a dealbreaker between boxing fans and their heroes; Garcia’s star only rose even while getting KO’d by a liver shot from Tank Davis in their riveting fistic chess match over seven rounds in 2023. Cheating isn’t a guaranteed demerit either; Garcia got popped for dirty pee after the Haney fight and had to serve a year’s suspension, but he came out more popular than ever. Nah, giving up in the ring is the only unforgivable sin. And Garcia committed it. 

Like Inoue, Garcia got put down in the second round by a big left hook. Two hooks, in fact! But whereas Inoue regrouped and reloaded, the long-troubled Garcia seemed to decide in the moment that he’d had enough of boxing. He very visibly stopped trying to win. Garcia had the physical tools to survive until the final bell, and Romero, who had to realize early that the fight was his, seemed content to just win easy rounds from the celebrity non-combatant he shared a ring with. As Romero was announced as the winner by large margins on the scorecards and his hand was raised, Garcia clapped politely. Garcia’s Friday showing is the sort of performance top-flight fighters typically don’t return from. Something’s up. Absent an as-yet-unannounced physical issue that held Garcia back after the second round, it’s hardly a given that Garcia will ever even appear in a big fight again. If he wins one, that would be a real stunner.

Garcia said before all the Friday night fiascos that he and Haney had already signed for a rematch to be held later this year. That event’s prognosis is now sketchy for reasons beyond Garcia losing and likely tanking his career. Is Haney a desirable quantity for any promoter at this point? The live attendance for the Times Square card was only about 300 people due to limited space. Haney’s next fight, no matter where it’s held or how big the venue, deserves about the same size crowd.

Since the Times Square ring hosted less engagement than you’d find at a monastery, fight fans immediately looked toward Riyadh for salvation. That’s where a night later, Canelo Alvarez took on unknown William Scull for the super middleweight title. Alas, the Canelo-Scull fight, which like the Big Apple bash was a PPV event put on by Turki Al-Sheikh, a Saudi minister and boxing’s new bottomless-pocketed overlord, didn’t do anything but stick the sport deeper into its doldrums. What little gravitas the fight had coming in was done away with by an interview with Terence Crawford shown on the broadcast just before the ring walks. The Omaha-based Crawford, always in the conversation of boxing’s pound-for-pound kings, disclosed that he and Canelo had already contractually agreed to fight each other in September. Given how much of a financial hit Garcia’s implosion gave promoters a day earlier, one could envision Turki telling Scull not to get in the way of what sure looks to be the biggest fight of the year. Scull came into the ring sculpted and with obvious physical skills. But for whatever reason, he fought like he’d taken the Hippocratic oath. Scull, as a good heel would, claimed he won the fight after being announced as the unanimous decision loser. Canelo, like anybody who shelled out cash for this dreck, was in no mood to celebrate. The Mexican kingpin was just steamed at Scull’s tactics.

“I hate fighters like that,” Canelo said.

Thank the heavens the weekend’s big boxing binge ended with Inoue-Cardenas, its only non-PPV headliner. “I like to brawl,” explained Inoue after his hand was raised. At least there’s still one big-name fighter out there who does.