Lessons that taught David Cardenas the buck stops with him in boxing

David Cardenas, currently competing as a flyweight, plans to move down to junior flyweight or even lower in the near future. His journey into boxing, however, was far from conventional.

On Aug. 24, Cardenas (8-0, 6 KOs) stopped Jaime Guevara (2-3-1) in the third round of a scheduled six-round bout. The 19-year-old Cardenas remains calm, knowing he is just beginning his career, but he eyes divisions with less depth that could put him in title contention soon.

Cardenas was introduced to boxing by his father, David Cardenas Sr., though he initially approached the sport with some ambivalence. Growing up around fighters like Mario Barrios and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, Cardenas Jr. began boxing more as a pastime.

“My dad introduced me to boxing, not because I was a bad kid,” Cardenas said. “I played a lot of team sports, and when we started losing, some kids would give up. I’d be like, ‘We can’t be giving up; we’ve got to keep going.’”

Boxing provided a unique challenge for Cardenas, as it required him to rely solely on himself. A conversation with his father led him to the boxing gym.

“I told my dad, ‘It’s not fair. I’m giving my all, and some of these kids are half-assing it,’” Cardenas said. “My dad said, ‘Put yourself in a sport where you can’t blame anyone else. In the ring, all you’ve got is yourself.’”

Initially, Cardenas boxed just for fun, but he faced early struggles, losing his first five amateur fights before finally securing a win – only to lose another four in a row.

That all changed in 2018 when he competed at the USA Boxing Nationals in Salt Lake City, Utah, with minimal training.

“I went to a national tournament just for the experience,” Cardenas said. “I didn’t train very hard and I did pretty well, and that’s when I realized that if I trained hard and gave it my all, I could really do something.”

Cardenas won his first fight and lost in the semifinals. “It was a close fight, and I thought, ‘If I can keep up with these guys now, imagine what I can do when I’m really working hard.’”

The realization became the driving force behind his professional career. Since turning pro in August 2023, Cardenas has fought eight times.

“That tournament made me go 100 percent into boxing,” Cardenas said. “It was the turning point where I saw my potential.”

Cardenas now walks to the ring for some fights accompanied by San Antonio Spurs player Keldon Johnson, whom he met at a local gym.

“We met at a boxing gym one day,” Cardenas said. “No one really wanted to spar me, so he was like, ‘I’ll get in there with you.’ We sparred a little, moved around, and ever since then we’ve stayed close.”

Despite this serendipitous connection, Cardenas remains clear that no one is behind him more than the man who first took him to the gym.

“He’s my biggest supporter,” Cardenas said of his father. “He’s there 24/7, has my back through it all.”

Lucas Ketelle is a proud member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and author of “Inside The Ropes of Boxing” (available on Amazon). Contact him on X @LukieBoxing.