California’s Thomas Taylor will be the third man in the ring when Naoya Inoue defends his undisputed junior-featherweight championship against Texan Ramon Cardenas this Sunday at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. Nevada’s commission approved Taylor and judges Max DeLuca (CA), David Sutherland (OK) and Steve Weisfeld (NJ) at Wednesday’s monthly meeting; Taylor earns $4,000, each judge $3,000.
DeLuca has seen “Monster” up close once before, scoring the Japanese knockout machine 59-55 ahead against Jason Moloney in 2020. Sutherland carries the deepest familiarity: he judged Inoue’s stoppages of Nonito Donaire (2022) and TJ Doheny (2024) and also scored Cardenas’ 2022 points win over Michell Banquez. Weisfeld will be ringside for either man for the first time.
Watch inside the final preparations with Inoue: Watch
Sunday marks Inoue’s first U.S. appearance since dismantling Michael Dasmarinas nearly four years ago; since then the superstar has unified 122 lbs with punishing knockouts of Stephen Fulton Jr. and Marlon Tapales. Cardenas climbs into his first world-title bout having won nine straight.
In the co-feature, unbeaten 6-ft featherweight Rafael Espinoza meets spoiler Edward Vazquez. New Yorker Harvey Dock referees; Nevada trio Tim Cheatham, Eric Cheek and Patricia Morse-Jarman judge.
Follow Inoue-Cardenas event here.
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