Inoue overcomes early knockdown, dominates Cardenas to remain undefeated with 8th-round TKO

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Naoya Inoue remained undefeated after retaining the undisputed junior featherweight title with an eighth-round technical knockout of Ramon Cardenas on Sunday night in front of a packed house inside T-Mobile Arena and a nationally televised audience on ESPN.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), who was knocked down in the second round, played the aggressor much of the fight by using precision and power to carve his way through Cardenas (26-2), frequently sending the announced 8,474 gathering into a frenzy.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Ionue said. “I was very surprised (at the knockdown), but I took things calmly and put myself together. ... From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

The Japanese icon, affectionately known as “Monster,” landed 57 of 103 power punches (55%) in the sixth and seventh rounds alone, per CompuBox.

Ionue, fighting in Las Vegas for the first time in four years, was ahead by identical scores of 68-63 on all three judges’ scorecards at the time of stoppage.

“The fans here were supportive and great,” said Ionue, 32. “And I hope I was able to entertain them.”

Inoue opened the fight with confidence by landing several shots.

But in charging forward in the second round, Ionue walked directly into Cardenas’ right-handed counter, dropping the undefeated champion.

It wouldn’t take long for Ionue to shake off the miscue, as he continued to dominate by picking his spots, going from the body to the head, wearing down his challenger. By the end of the fourth round, Ionue had landed 48 of the 90 punches thrown, including 33 power shots.

Cardenas, though, appeared to absorb everything, while countering when he could.

Inoue caught Cardenas near the halfway point of the sixth round and drove him into the corner while landing several combos. With Cardenas throwing counters, Ionue used the final 18 seconds to pulverize the 29-year-old challenger.

Inoue scored his first knockdown of the fight in the seventh round, catching Cardenas in the corner and dropping him after landing four consecutive rights.

Knowing he had his opponent defeated, Ionue was relentless in the eighth round, eventually prompting referee Thomas Taylor to step in.

“He’s pound-for-pound one of the greatest fighters on the planet,” Cardenas said.

Ionue is scheduled to fight a mandatory bout against Murodjon Akhmadaliev in September, in what could be his toughest challenge to date.

The co-main event saw Mexico’s Rafael Espinoza (27-0, 23 KOs) retain his WBO featherweight belt with a TKO of Edward Vazquez (17-3) at 1:47 of the seventh round. Espinoza dominated in all seven rounds, pouring it on with a bevy of punches from the fourth round until referee Harvey Dock stepped in to stop the fight.

Rohan Polanco dropped Fabian Maidana with a thunderous body shot in the 10th round and went on to win by unanimous decision. With the win, Polanco (16-0, 10 KOs) retained his minor welterweight title. Maidana fell to 24-4.

Emiliano Vargas (14-0, 12 KOs) used a vicious combination that finished with a left uppercut to the face of Juan Leon (11-3-1) for a second-round technical knockout at 1:40. Vargas is the son of former two-time light middleweight champion, Fernando Vargas.

AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing

Emiliano Fernando Vargas knocks down Juan Leon in a junior welterweight boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Rohan Polanco knocks down Fabian Maidana in a welterweight boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Fabian Maidana hits Rohan Polanco in a welterweight boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Rafael Espinoza hits Edward Vazquez in a featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Edward Vazquez hits Rafael Espinoza in a featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Rafael Espinoza hits Edward Vazquez in a featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Rafael Espinoza hits Edward Vazquez in a featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Naoya Inoue kneels on the mat after he was knocked down by Ramon Cardenas in a junior featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Naoya Inoue hits Ramon Cardenas in a junior featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Naoya Inoue, right, knocks down Ramon Cardenas in a junior featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Naoya Inoue hits Ramon Cardenas in a junior featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Naoya Inoue hits Ramon Cardenas in a junior featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Ramon Cardenas hits Naoya Inoue in a junior featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Naoya Inoue hits Ramon Cardenas in a junior featherweight title boxing match Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Starting Thursday, Americans in five states who get government help paying for groceries will see new restrictions on soda, candy and other foods they can buy with those benefits.

Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of at least 18 states to enact waivers prohibiting the purchase of certain foods through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

It’s part of a push by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to urge states to strip foods regarded as unhealthy from the $100 billion federal program -- long known as food stamps -- that serves 42 million Americans.

“We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those very programs help create,” Kennedy said in a statement in December.

The efforts are aimed at reducing chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes associated with sweetened drinks and other treats, a key goal of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again effort.

But retail industry and health policy experts said state SNAP programs, already under pressure from steep budget cuts, are unprepared for the complex changes, with no complete lists of the foods affected and technical point-of-sale challenges that vary by state and store. And research remains mixed about whether restricting SNAP purchases improves diet quality and health.

The National Retail Federation, a trade association, predicted longer checkout lines and more customer complaints as SNAP recipients learn which foods are affected by the new waivers.

“It’s a disaster waiting to happen of people trying to buy food and being rejected,” said Kate Bauer, a nutrition science expert at the University of Michigan.

A report by the National Grocers Association and other industry trade groups estimated that implementing SNAP restrictions would cost U.S. retailers $1.6 billion initially and $759 million each year going forward.

“Punishing SNAP recipients means we all get to pay more at the grocery store,” said Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP director for the anti-hunger advocacy group Food Research & Action Center.

The waivers are a departure from decades of federal policy first enacted in 1964 and later authorized by the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, which said SNAP benefits can be used for “any food or food product intended for human consumption,” except alcohol and ready-to-eat hot foods. The law also says SNAP can't pay for tobacco.

In the past, lawmakers have proposed stopping SNAP from paying for expensive meats like steak or so-called junk foods, such as chips and ice cream.

But previous waiver requests were denied based on USDA research concluding that restrictions would be costly and complicated to implement, and that they might not change recipients’ buying habits or reduce health problems such as obesity.

Under the second Trump administration, however, states have been encouraged and even incentivized to seek waivers – and they responded.

“This isn’t the usual top-down, one-size-fits-all public health agenda,” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said when he announced his state’s request last spring. “We’re focused on root causes, transparent information and real results.”

The five state waivers that take effect Jan. 1 affect about 1.4 million people. Utah and West Virginia will ban the use of SNAP to buy soda and soft drinks, while Nebraska will prohibit soda and energy drinks. Indiana will target soft drinks and candy. In Iowa, which has the most restrictive rules to date, the SNAP limits affect taxable foods, including soda and candy, but also certain prepared foods.

“The items list does not provide enough specific information to prepare a SNAP participant to go to the grocery store,” Plata-Nino wrote in a blog post. “Many additional items — including certain prepared foods — will also be disallowed, even though they are not clearly identified in the notice to households.”

Marc Craig, 47, of Des Moines, said he has been living in his car since October. He said the new waivers will make it more difficult to determine how to use the $298 in SNAP benefits he receives each month, while also increasing the stigma he feels at the cash register.

“They treat people that get food stamps like we’re not people,” Craig said.

SNAP waivers enacted now and in the coming months will run for two years, with the option to extend them for an additional three, according to the Agriculture Department. Each state is required to assess the impact of the changes.

Health experts worry that the waivers ignore larger factors affecting the health of SNAP recipients, said Anand Parekh, chief policy officer at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

“This doesn’t solve the two fundamental problems, which is healthy food in this country is not affordable and unhealthy food is cheap and ubiquitous,” he said.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - An EBT SNAP sign is shown on a self check out screen at a grocery store in Mount Prospect, Ill., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)