LAS VEGAS – When Ramon Cardenas walks to the ring at the T-Mobile Arena on Sunday, he will do so determined to “ruin the plans” Naoya Inoue has to fight Murodjon Akhmadaliev next.

There is perhaps no clearer a demonstration of Cardenas’ status as the significant underdog than the fact that after Friday’s final press conference Inoue described his date of September 14 with Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev in his native Japan as “written in stone”.

His co-promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, has similarly spoken not only of the 32-year-old Inoue’s plans for September but of a likely date in December in Saudi Arabia, and another in Japan – potentially against Junto Nakatani – in the spring of 2026.

The 29-year-old Cardenas, matched with Inoue on the occasion of Cinco de Mayo partly on account of his Mexican-American heritage, recognises that few around his inner circle give him hope of victory. 

He regardless insists that a phone call he took from Akhmadaliev wishing him luck for Sunday at the T-Mobile Arena has done little to discourage him, and that he is even more determined to seize the greatest chance he is likely to ever get.

“I’m going in there and I’m a plan ruiner,” he told BoxingScene. “I’m gonna try and ruin some plans. I got off the phone with MJ – he wished me good luck and he said, ‘Don’t worry about none of that stuff, man – after the fight, just win, and everything else will settle itself’. 

“I’m a plan ruiner. I’m going to ruin plans. I’m not going to just collect a cheque. I’m here to accomplish my dream, and my dream is to be a world champion ultimately; winning this makes me undisputed, so it makes it even better.

“I knew I was going to get here. That’s what I’ve worked for my whole career – my whole life. Me being here is not something that surprises me. There are some people who talk about Cinderella stories; mine is not a Cinderella story. I knew I was going to get here – it was just a matter of when.

“These guys right here [my team] gives me a chance. My family gives me a chance. That’s all I care about. I’ve always said it – I don’t need anybody to give me a chance. As long as I have the opportunity I’m going to take the chance.

“He’s good at everything. He’s undisputed for a reason. He’s really good.

“His explosiveness. They’ve been really pushing the explosiveness, and yeah, he’s really explosive. 

“[But] there’s a lot of things we’ve seen. When you’re very explosive, sometimes you let your guard down. 

“I just gotta go out there and be me, you know what I mean? I know I’m capable of accomplishing what I’m trying to accomplish on Sunday – just, go out there and be me.

“He fights good fighters. He’s a good fighter. He’s making his legacy and I want to set mine as well. That’s what makes me dangerous – knowing that I want to set my legacy and knowing that I want to accomplish things.

“[He’s] top three [in the world] for sure. [But] I’ve always said pound-for-pound is an imaginary thing.”

The “dream” to which Cardenas refers is not only that of becoming world champion. At the same press conference on Friday he spoke of watching Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather and their memorable HBO 24/7 series at the age of 11. 

He also watched the careers of Mayweather and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and fantasised about his own main-event fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Saturday’s weigh-in, at the MGM Grand and opened to the public by promoters Top Rank, proved over-subscribed.

“It’s really just a blessing to be here,” he said. “These great fighters before – you had Floyd Mayweather; Canelo [Saul Alvarez]; all these guys – have taken over this weekend. For me to be here and part of that history… This weekend is a big weekend in boxing. To be part of this weekend and part of Cinco de Mayo weekend is a blessing. 

“Watching Floyd Mayweather take over Cinco de Mayo – watching him and seeing the 24/7s. I used to say, ‘Man, I’m gonna be there one day – I’m wanna do that; I wanna be there’. For me to be here, seeing all these people here and stuff like that, it’s really nice. 

“I’ve been saying this all camp. Boxing is not a popularity contest. Boxing is about the best fighting the best. I’m ranked number one with the WBA for a reason. No one put me there ‘cause I’m pretty or handsome – I’m neither one of those. They’ve gotten away from the best fighting the best. ‘No one knows him.’ I earned my way. Boxing’s not a popularity contest.”