Ramon Cardenas is fully aware of the “Monster” moment in front of him. After all that has come before it, he isn’t about to let the immensity of it break his focus on what needs to be done.

Cardenas is gearing up to take on undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue on May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas – a fight that he had envisioned but, until very recently, seemed from the outside to be far out of his reach.

“I’ve been mentally preparing to fight Inoue for a long time,” Cardenas said. “I knew I'd eventually get a big fight if I kept winning. And here we are, a shot at the undisputed champion of the world.”

Cardenas has inarguably done his part to put himself in this position, winning 14 in a row – including, most recently, a 10-round unanimous decision victory over Bryan Acosta in February. A week later, Cardenas received a call from his manager asking if he wanted a shot at the fighter many believe to be the current top pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

Said Cardenas: “I had to jump at it.”

But it is, objectively, an Everest-like challenge for San Antonio’s Cardenas, 26-1 (14 KOs). Not only will this be his first world title opportunity, but it also marks an almost-incalculable leap in opposition. He has never faced anyone in the ring quite like the “Monster,” Inoue.

“I know this is the type of fight and moment that can eat people up, but the ring doesn’t change,” Cardenas said. “You can put it in the middle of the ocean. You can put it in the middle of the desert. The ring is the ring. It has four corners. I see it like that and understand the magnitude of this fight. I asked for this moment, and now I have to take advantage of it.

Cardenas’ timing couldn’t have been better. Inoue, who will have been absent from the United States for almost four years, chose this start to make a return that American fans have increasingly clamored for. He most recently wiped out Ye Joon Kim inside four rounds in January at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, his favored venue during an eight-fight stretch of performances on home soil. He is on a 10-fight knockout streak and will essentially be reaching out to a new market in a Cinco De Mayo weekend date that will be all his own, the third in a series of major events that weekend. The magnitude of it all is lost on no one.

“This is Inoue’s first fight in America in four years, so I know he’s motivated to show out,” Cardenas said. “I’m prepared for the very best version of Naoya Inoue.”

He has at least one believer: Trainer Joel Diaz, despite Cardenas’ modest knockout percentage, raves about his punching prowess.

“This kid has devastating power in both hands,” Diaz said of Cardenas. “He is one of the fighters in boxing who can hurt you in the first or last round because he hits so hard. He moves really well, has good defense, and will rise to the moment.

“If Ramon catches Inoue with either the right or the left, he will hurt him. We know that Inoue can be hurt.”

Inoue was indeed battered by Nonito Donaire, who broke his orbital bone in their 2019 fight, and dropped by Luis Nery on a flash knockdown last May. And yet, Inoue gave as good as he got in both those fights, ultimately winning both convincingly – along with every one of his other pro outings.

If the scale of the task has fazed Cardenas in the least, then he has one helluva poker face. Or maybe he simply has seen enough of the other side to not wrap both arms around this opportunity.

“I started doing Lyft, DoorDash and Uber to make ends meet,” Cardenas said. “To fight for a world title is one thing, but to fight for the undisputed championship is the ultimate prize. For me to be in this position shows my work ethic and self-belief because I knew I was going to get here."

Diaz saw that spark in Cardenas. He knows that, whether or not his fighter is a match for the Monster, he’ll leave nothing on the table.

“Early in his career, he fought for free,” Diaz said. “All he wanted was a soda and some tacos after the fight. He started from nothing. He’s here, he loves the sport, and we’re going to shock the world.”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.