Caption: Bryan Acosta (L) and Ramon Cardenas (R). Photo by Ryan Songalia
SAN ANTONIO – In possession of a No. 2 ranking with a sanctioning organization and with that body’s world title perpetually at risk of being vacated, Ramon Cardenas could be forgiven for preferring to hold the ball and wait for boxing politics to play out.
That wouldn’t suit Cardenas very well, however. That’s why he is returning to the ring this Saturday in his hometown of San Antonio, against Mexico’s unbeaten Bryan Acosta at Boeing Center at Tech Port. The 10-round junior featherweight fight will headline a ProBox TV telecast, one of the first outside the broadcaster’s home state of Florida.
Cardenas, 25-1 (14 KOs), is rated No. 2 by the WBA, while Acosta, 20-0 (18 KOs), of Hermosillo, Mexico, is a hungry but relatively unknown fighter competing for the first time in America. Asked why he chose to take such a high-risk, low-reward fight, Cardenas says it’s just what comes naturally to him.
“I’m a fighter. I like to fight and I want to accomplish my goals,” said the 29-year-old Acosta at Thursday’s press conference at Top Dog Boxing Gym. “I want to show that boxing is back. I put it on Twitter the other day that boxing is about fighting the best.
“I repeat this all the time: Boxers have to fight the best, win, lose or draw. Give the people what they want to see.”
The fight is the first for Cardenas since his ninth-round knockout of Jesus Ramirez last April and his first in his hometown, coincidentally, since he fought another unbeaten fighter, Rafael Pedroza, knocking him out in two rounds back in September 2023.
Cardenas admits he knows very little about the 26-year-old Acosta, except that he switches stances often. Acosta, who was born in Mexico but lived in San Diego until age five, tells BoxingScene that he moved down in weight from 126, where he’s rated No. 14 by the IBF, because he knows what a win over Cardenas could do for his career.
ProBox commentator Robert Garcia, a two-time BWAA Trainer of the Year, thinks the fight has the potential to be competitive until Cardenas’ experience takes over.
“I think it’s going to be a great fight,” said Garcia. “I think the first few rounds are going to be a little technical, but I think at the end Ramon Cardenas is gonna start breaking him down.
“Cardenas’ career has been built here in the states, fighting on ProBox, fighting tough fights. His opponent, he has a great record and talent, but it’s still a record that’s been built in Mexico. I think [Cardenas] possibly stops him in the later rounds.”
Another ProBox commentator, Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez – who shares the “Dinamita” nickname with Cardenas – says the fight has the potential to be another great all-Mexican clash.
For Cardenas, his reason for boxing doesn’t include a dramatic story of wanting to overcome bullying or needing to lose weight. His father, a construction worker who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, had put his older brother into boxing, and Ramon wanted to follow him there. He had his first amateur bout in August 2008 and compiled an amateur career consisting of 106 fights, culminating in four national title wins and a berth on the United States’ World Series of Boxing team.
His dream was never to make the Olympics but to achieve glory in the pro ranks. He turned pro at age 19 in Mexico and has been mostly successful since then. His only defeat, a 2017 majority decision loss to Danny Flores in Mexico, came after an upset stomach prevented him from rehydrating after the weigh-in, leaving him sluggish and drained.
“I lost too much weight, and then when I made the weight, I went to eat a burger right after,” said Cardenas. “My whole stomach just turned inside-out. I weighed in at 122, and the next day I weighed in at 124 and a half, so I didn’t rehydrate nothing. Whatever I ate, I would vomit or shit it out. We were gonna cancel the fight, but I told my dad we’re already over here. I should have not fought but I lost a majority decision.”
Since then, he has won 13 straight and made the sacrifices to advance his career. After graduating high school, Cardenas moved to Los Angeles to train for a time with the late Israel Vazquez, and also spent some time in Washington, D.C., learning from Barry Hunter.
Since late 2023, he has trained under Joel Diaz, spending half his time in Coachella, California. He says the biggest thing the former title challenger turned trainer of champions has brought to him is confidence.
“That’s the main thing – he’s helped me have more confidence in myself,” said Cardenas. “I’ve always known that I have the capabilities to be world champion, but I needed more confidence.”
Cardenas’ road to a championship is complicated somewhat by the fact that the WBA has installed Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who also trains under Diaz, as its interim champion, while undisputed champion Naoya Inoue is saddled with up to four different mandatory defenses that he has to settle. Cardenas says he would fight his friend and gym mate Akhmadaliev for the right purse – but also wouldn’t shy away from a fight with the pound-for-pound great Inoue.
“With my managers and ProBox, they can make that fight happen, for sure,” said Cardenas. “I’m very easy to work with. Obviously I don’t want crumbs for that fight, but I’m not gonna price myself out, either. I want to fight the champions because I gotta practice what I preach. If I say that the best should fight the best, then that’s what I’m gonna do. Inoue is the best, so I want to fight him.”
How does he feel he’d fare?
“I think I have a chance to beat him,” Cardenas said. “My strength is what I think separates me from a lot of guys. I’m not gonna go in there already losing. I think a lot of guys, when they go in there, they’re just happy to get paid. They’re like, ‘Oh shit, I’m making a couple million dollars, I’m set for my life.’ For me, money is good – I’m not gonna say I don’t want the money – but I want to leave a legacy.”
Garry Jonas, ProBox TV’s CEO (full disclosure: Jonas owns BoxingScene), is working on the business end to establish that legacy. He says he met with WBA officials in Houston prior to traveling to San Antonio to discuss what Cardenas’ next steps would look like.
“There’s a lot of possibilities, but it all depends on what happens with Inoue,” Jonas said. “If he decides to fight someone from the WBA, or they end up stripping him, we don’t know yet. Unfortunately, that’s one of those things in boxing – you’re sort of at the mercy of the system and how things unfold. So he’ll just stay in competitive fights and make himself known as a threat to become a world champion.”
Part of the legacy that Cardenas also wants to leave behind is improving the image of boxing in San Antonio. He recalls the sport’s checkered history in the city, with boxers like Tony Ayala Jnr spending much of his life in prison for sex crimes and drug charges, and says that fighters like he, junior bantamweight titleholder Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, welterweight belt holder Mario Barrios and former flyweight titlist Joshua Franco have worked to restore the honor of boxing in San Antonio.
“We have those guys who are champions, and you don’t hear no bad stuff with them. They’re good people, in and out the ring, and we need to keep that momentum going,” said Cardenas, adding that he keeps his focus on “just trying to be a good citizen, win fights and stay out of trouble.”
That, and being remembered for his accomplishments in the ring, would go a long way towards a fulfilling life for Cardenas.
“I want to leave a good legacy behind me,” Cardenas said, “so that when I retire, at least people can remember me like, ‘Oh, that dude fought everybody,’ or ‘He gave Inoue a badass fight,’ or ‘He beat Inoue.’ That’s the legacy I want to leave.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
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