San Antonio's Ramon Cardenas faced a challenging bout against Leonardo Carrillo on Saturday night in Los Angeles, ultimately securing a split decision victory after a tense 10 rounds. The super bantamweight contender, who is currently ranked No. 2 by both the WBA and WBC, had to navigate through a difficult fight that left spectators on edge until the final scorecards were revealed.
Cardenas entered the ring with high expectations, having won 15 of his last 16 fights. However, the match against Carrillo proved to be more complicated than anticipated. Cardenas started the fight with a slow but steady pace, seemingly staying ahead of his Colombian opponent. Despite his efforts, the fight did not unfold as smoothly as he had hoped.
When the judges' scores were announced, Cardenas found himself in a precarious situation. The final tallies read 98-92, 93-97, and 96-94 in favor of Cardenas, but the second scorecard in favor of Carrillo raised concerns of a potential upset. "Yeah, that was crazy, right? I don’t know what (that third judge) was seeing," Cardenas remarked after the fight, expressing his surprise at the close scoring. Many ringside analysts, including ProBoxTV commentator Paulie Malignaggi, believed Cardenas had done enough to win by a wider margin.
The statistics from the fight supported Cardenas' performance, as he landed 148 out of 623 total punches, while Carrillo managed to connect with only 72 of 335 thrown. Cardenas acknowledged that he had been working on increasing his punch output, and this fight marked a career-high for him in total punches thrown.
Despite the victory, Cardenas noted that Carrillo's strategy seemed more focused on survival than on winning. "He came to fight but he didn’t come to win. He just wanted to survive," Cardenas stated, reflecting on the fight's dynamics. The match featured few exciting exchanges, with the crowd's most notable reaction occurring when Cardenas narrowly missed a powerful right hand in the ninth round.
Looking ahead, Cardenas had hoped that a decisive win against Carrillo would bolster his chances for a future matchup with Junto Nakatani, who recently challenged Naoya Inoue. Although he remains a strong contender, the less-than-convincing victory means he will need to continue proving himself in the ring.
In a separate bout, another San Antonio fighter, Joshua Franco, faced a disappointing outcome in his return to the ring. Franco, a former world champion, was upset by Santiago Barajas in Guadalajara. This marked Franco's first fight since retiring three years ago due to mental health issues. The split decision loss, which left Franco with a severely swollen left eye, adds another layer of complexity to his comeback story.
As Cardenas continues to navigate the competitive landscape of the super bantamweight division, his latest victory, albeit hard-fought, underscores the unpredictable nature of boxing and the importance of resilience in the face of adversity.
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