Jose Cardenas of Laredo gets Huge Oppurtunity to Battle Top Prospect on Top Rank Card

Laredo boxing is absolutely surging with Emilio Garcia and Jennifer Lozano thriving in the international amateur scene and on the path to qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics and Jorge Castaneda battling his way into world title contention and upcoming protege Felix "Gatito" Garcia turning his heads and compiling a perfect 7-0 (1) record. Another skilled Laredoan will get a major opportunity to shine. Jose Cardenas, 7-1 (5), will battle undefeated prospect Abdullah Mason, a 19-year-old lightweight from Cleveland, Ohio, on November 16th. Mason sports a perfect 10- 0 (8) record and is considered one of the world's brightest prospects. The bout will take place in Las Vegas on the undercard of Shakur Stevenson- Edwin De Los Santos battle at the T-Mobile Arena for the vacant WBC Lightweight world title. Mason has been a staple of ESPN and Top Rank since turning pro in 2021. He last fought Cesar Villarraga in Oklahoma back in August. 

Cardenas last fought in July and scored a career-best win. The Laredoan dropped and battered undefeated Hugo Castaneda at the Sames Auto Arena on a spectacular Pound-4-Pound Promotions Card. Additionally, Cardenas has one blemish on his resume: a third-round DQ loss to Marco Castro. An April 2019 affair appeared to have been waved off by the referee in favor of Cardenas, who was in complete control of the scrap and was unaware the bout was being stopped and continued to tee off on Castro while the ref was trying to jump in and wave the bout off. This caused the referee to DQ Cardenas in highly controversial fashion. The South Texan bounced back from the hotly debated DQ loss a few months later and destroyed Diego Contreras in two rounds on a days notice. 

Jorge Castaneda & Josh Juarez Return to Laredo August 19th

Laredo, the 10th largest city in the Lone Star State, is quickly becoming a major boxing hotbed. Two of their biggest and brightest stars will return home on August 19th at the Sames Auto Arena on a Triple A Promotions card. In the main event, Jorge Castaneda, 15-2 (11) will battle undefeated Nestor Medellin, 9-0 (4), in an eight-round featherweight affair and battle of the 956. Castaneda has been around the world and has upset victories over Otha Jones III and  Youssef Khoumari in the UK and last fought in Mexico and was stopped by Eduardo Hernandez on the undercard of Hiroto Kyoguchi vs Esteban Bermudez that aired live on DAZN. He now looks to bounce back in his hometown against Medellin who has a hotly debated split decision victory over fellow Laredo native Jorge Ramos in his last outing back in 2020. Its been three years out of the ring for Medelian who fights out of Harligen. Castaneda has acquired a number of straps including ABF belts as well as the WBC Youth intercontinental super featherweightr belt as well as the WBC International silver belt at ther same weight weight calss.

In the co-main event fan favorite undefeated boxer-puncher Josh Juarez, 10-0 (5), will also retrun to the ring. Juarez scored an impressive unamioud decision victory over Neller Obergon in a battle of unbeaten prospects then outpointed  Emmanuel Sanchez on a Golden Boy card in Grand Prairie. He then had a nearly three year lay off before returning to the ring last July and destroying Randy McCarty in less than one-round. Now he looks to continue his come back against Leopoldo Reyna 11-3-1 (4), of Brownsville in a six-round heavyweight contest. Reyna last fought in March and was stopped by Raphael Murphy in one round. Juarez has competed at both heavyweight and Light Heavyweight in the past and has talked about settling in at cruiserweight in the future. 

The undercard portion will also feature Hector "Tito"  Ferreyro Jr, 6-0 (3), who has scored two consecutive first-round KO's in his comeback including earlier this month when he destroyed Rafael Munoz. He will battle Mexican Jesus Gomez Rodriguez, 5-3 (4), who alst fought San Antoni native Eddie Ortiz in his last fight in 2019. The card also features Jose Cardenas who looks to keep the momentum going after his upset victory over "Tigre" Hugo Castaneda on July 1.