Three Years ago Kendo "Tremendo "Castaneda of San Antonio, held the WBA-NABA 140-pound title. He had just run his record to 17-0 (8) and appeared to be on the verge of a world title fight. He scored a career-best win, via sixth-round TKO over rugged contender Stan Martyniouk. Since that day it has been a rollercoaster ride for the Alamo City native. Castaneda lost five fights in a row, moved up to 147, and then back down to 140, to enter the PROBOX last chance tournament. A tournament made up of eight contenders who have championship skills and pedigree but had suffered career setbacks.
It was a career-changing decision for Castaneda, who has completely rejuvenated his career in the past six months. Castaneda's trainer Ronnie Cantu explained his fighters mindset after five straight losses and going into the Last Chance tournament "If you know Kendo, Kendo will always stay the same... He's always the same after every win and every loss he's exactly the same." Back in May, in the first round, Castaneda scored a tremendous first-round knockout that is still the leader in the clubhouse for KO of the year over Sonny Fredrickson. He then followed that up with a fight-of-the-year type war with Joseph Fernandez. In a fight, Castaneda turned the tide during that very dramatic ninth round and scored a unanimous decision victory. A fight that's on a short list for "Fight of the Year" motivated and directed by his longtime friend and now trainer Ronnie Cantu, who should be in the running for "Trainer of the Year", The San Antonian finds himself in the finals of the ProBox Last Chance tournament with Antonio Moran standing in his way. A win against Moran, who has scored consecutive victories over Jeffrey Torres and Michael Dutvhover of Midland, puts Castaneda right back where he was when he was that hotshot 17-0 prospect back in 2019! On the verge of a world title shot. A dream Castaneda and his trainer and long time best friend are achieving together. Cantu explained "we grew up together, we grew up in the amateur ranks together, we believe in each other and push each other."