Most fighters carry fond memories of the wins claims when the stakes were first raised in their career.
Ramon Cardenas can recall the first time he claimed a significant regional title, which came in a February 2021 split decision over Angel Antonio Contreras to claim the WBA-NABA junior featherweight title. The fight took place at Caribe Royale Orlando (Florida), far from the family and friends whom Contreras grew accustomed to seeing in his many fights in his San Antonio hometown.
That good feeling comes back this Friday. On paper, Contreras (22-1, 11KOs) isn’t expected to get past Panama’s Rafael Pedroza (15-0, 11KOs) in their Showtime-televised ShoBox main event from Boeing Center at Tech Port in his hometown. The support system he will have on hand is the extra push he believes will be the difference in their WBA Continental Latin America title fight.
“I’m going to be fighting for my second WBA belt. To win it in front of my family and fans and everybody will be so sweet,” noted Contreras. “My first WBA belt, I won in Florida and there were only a few people there to celebrate with me. It’s going to be super sweet.”
Contreras has won his last ten starts since an April 2017 points loss to Danny Flores in Monterrey, Mexico. The 27-year-old prospect enters this weekend’s main event just two fights removed from his most significant win to date, a ten-round, unanimous decision over Michell Banquez last July 9 at Alamodome. The forthcoming clash versus Pedroza will mark his ninth career fight at home and third in a row.
“I put on a good show and a lot of people come to my fights,” noted Cardenas, who stopped badly faded former junior bantamweight titlist Rodrigo Guerrero on May 26 at San Antonio’s Smoke’s Sky Bar. “I’m excited. It’s a dream come true. I’ve put in a lot of hard work.
“I never got much help coming up. I didn’t find a promoter when I turned pro. I had a couple offers but they weren’t good. I decided to do it on my own. I fought anywhere I could get a fight. It was all leading up to this. There’s nothing better than that.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox