LAS VEGAS – Ramon Cardenas nearly pulled off an all-time stunner by clocking Naoya Inoue on Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.

But he ran out of time in the second round to see what more could have been.

Then he ran into a buzzsaw after the undisputed junior featherweight champion recuperated from a shocking second-round knockdown courtesy of a cracking counter left hand in the waning seconds of the stanza. Soon after referee Thomas Taylor completed his eight count, the bell sounded, and Inoue headed to his corner without taking another punch.

The four-division champion Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs) went on to recover and mounted a comeback that kickstarted soon after, leading to a seventh-round knockdown of his own and an eighth-round stoppage to crush Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs).

“It wasn’t so much about the power. I’ve gotten hit a little harder by other fighters,” Cardenas said during his post-fight press conference. “It was more of the overwhelming, six, seven, eight punches at a time. I was just like, ‘Oh [expletive]!’ I told my trainer [Joel Diaz] in the hotel room, ‘If I go out, I am going to go out on my shield.’ I think that’s what I did.

“He had good timing. I was trying to catch him coming in. I knew that his hands would go down when he would throw punches. My game plan was to catch him in between his shots, and we dropped him. I knew he was going to get up because he’s a warrior. I knew he wasn’t going to go down so easily.”

After landing 39 punches in the first three rounds, Inoue dialed up the pressure and assaulted the brave Cardenas with 137 more punches through the next 13 minutes, many of which landed in combinations. Cardenas was valiantly winging away and having success in spurts, but he couldn’t keep “The Monster” off of him as he wilted.

Taylor stepped in and stopped the fight while Cardenas was getting pummeled in the corner 45 seconds into the eighth. Inoue had dropped Cardenas with 25 seconds left in the previous round.

“I told the referee I was good when he stopped the fight,” said Cardenas, who was seen smiling several times throughout the fight after eating heavy shots. “He said, ‘I have to save you from yourself.’ I was disappointed, but I am not going to argue. Maybe he felt something that I didn’t.”

Diaz said he stressed two-way communication in the corner to make adjustments. After Cardenas got knocked down, he told his fighter to go for it and that he was only going to give him one more round because he was slowing down.

“Ramon showed what kind of warrior he is in a great fight,” said Diaz. “He showed what he had. Even if you walk out of the ring with a loss, you gain. A lot of people now know who Ramon is.

“I knew he could take a punch. He spars lightweights. He’s durable. … As the rounds went by he was overwhelmed and slowed down. He followed the game plan in a lot of moments, but he needed a little bit more body work. Much respect to Inoue. He’s a great fighter.”

The upset-minded Cardenas rolled the dice and nearly pulled off the monumental upset against Inoue, a minus-10000 betting favorite. Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz alluded that significant plans should be coming for Cardenas after the resilient performance.

“I think I gained some fans. I’m not necessarily sad about it, but I am bummed out. It’s boxing,” said Cardenas. “I’ve never cared about losing. It’s about the best fighting the best. I dreamed of stuff like this as a kid, to fight on the big stage in Las Vegas in front of thousands. I enjoy fighting. I was enjoying the moment.”

Cardenas can now comfortably continue his career as a highly reputable and respected fighter after being a mostly unknown cab driver turned WBA No. 1-ranked contender.

“Everyone has been calling me a Lyft driver, but I am a helluva tough Lyft driver,” said Cardenas. “I’ll fight anybody. It doesn’t matter who it is. I don’t know where we go from here. We’ll figure it out. But first, I am going to take a nice vacation to Japan.”