Texas prospect David Cardenas following in the tracks left by Marios Barrios and Jesse Rodriguez

Junior bantamweight prospect David Cardenas moved to 7-0 (5 KOs) with a first-round stoppage of Steveen Angeles Cruz.

The 19-year-old prospect from San Antonio, Texas, notched his early win at the Event Center in Floresville, Texas.

After a feeling out process in the opening stages of the first round, Cardenas landed a picture-perfect left hook to the body, sending Cruz to the canvas and he couldn’t recover. The stoppage came at the 2:13 mark of round one.

“I landed that body shot with a lot of force and he went down,” said Cardenas, who is trained by Rick Nunez, the longtime San Antonio boxing coach from the South Park Boxing Academy. “This is a guy I fought and went the distance earlier in my career, so it felt good to get the knockout, especially in the first round.”

With the knockout victory, Cardenas is rapidly becoming a household name in the city of San Antonio, where he has strong ties to San Antonio Spurs power forward Keldon Johnson. He is tentatively scheduled to be back in the ring on August 24, at the Alzafar Shrine Temple in San Antonio.

“I’m looking forward to fighting at home in San Antonio next month, where I know a lot of my fans and family will be in attendance,” concluded Cardenas. “I have plans to make a name for myself in San Antonio and become the big name to come out of our city. ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Mario Barrios have paved the way and I’m coming right behind them.”