From prospect to gatekeeper in 14 mo: the fall of Kendo "Tremendo" Castañeda

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In just February of last year he was 17-0 (8), and now as of last night he is riding a skid of four consecutive losses. Shame, he isn't a bad fighter by any means and is obviously passionate about it - but if you're feather-fisted, not particularly slick, and get matched on a consistently very tough, ambitious schedule before you've seasoned yourself for it - yeah, probably not going to go too well for you. Cautionary tale.

From a write-up by Anson Wainwright for Ring Mag a few years ago:

Why he’s a prospect: Castaneda was a good regional fighter with mixed success nationally.

He won the Ringside Nationals in 2011 and back-to-back Texas State Golden Gloves in 2011, at 123 pounds and then in 2012 at 132 pounds. He represented Texas at the Golden Gloves nationally in 2011 and 2012. At the latter, he lost to eventual winner Albert Bell at the semi-final stage.

During his amateur career, Castaneda fought a slew of talented fighters. “I faced Damon Allen Jr., Albert Bell, Tramaine Williams, O’Shaquie Foster, Ray Ximenez and one of the Gary Antonio Russells. All great fights; I beat some and lost to some,” he admitted.

He didn’t try out for the 2012 Olympic Trials, instead following the lure of the professional game.

Castaneda has gained valuable experience sparring former four-division titlist Adrien Broner, former unified lightweight king Juan Diaz, long-time contender David Estrada and San Antonio’s most famous boxing son Jesse James Leija.

He feels his shot selection is one of his best strengths as a fighter: “I would say it is that I can combine many combinations from all angles.”

Why he’s a suspect: While Castaneda was a decent amateur and gained a lot of experience fighting many of the top guys in his weight classes, he didn’t thrive in the upper echelons domestically. It will be interesting to see if he is capable of mixing with some of those fighters now.

His 41 percent knockout ratio suggests he’s not a one-punch knockout artist. He is an active fighter and tends to get stoppages more through accumulation of blows.

In that regard, at times, Castaneda feels he’s his own worst enemy.

“Smothering my punches looking for the knockout,” he said. “I need to always stay composed and sharp, that way I do not waste strength.”

Storylines: Castaneda was born and raised in San Antonio. He is of Mexican decent and has always been around boxing.

“My early years growing up in San Antonio were great,” he explained. “I come from a tough family. Most of my family is in Mexico. I joined boxing due to looking up to my grandfather Nalo Mendez, who was a professional boxer in the 1960s in Mexico.

“Also my uncle Manolo Mendez – my grandfather’s son – was a pro back in the 1990s and he was one of Jesse James Leija’s sparring partners during his time. The fight game runs deep in my family.

“Being the baby, I was made to grow up tough, thanks to my older brothers who also had a good run as pro boxers.”

He took up boxing when he was nine years old because of his older brother Felipe “El Silencioso” Castaneda.

“We would take three buses to the West Side Gym every single day,” he said. “He was my first role model, besides my grandpa and uncle, and the rest is history.”

Castaneda stayed away from trouble and was a good student but boxing was always his first love.

“I was the good kid because I learned from my older brothers’ mistakes,” he explained. “I was an A, B honor roll kid throughout my whole life as a student. I made it to the University of Incarnate Word but dropped out because I turned pro at the same time and I chose boxing instead. The rest is history. I’ve lived by the boxing game my whole life. Hard work pays off.”

His boxing heroes are Mexican legends Julio Cesar Chavez and Marco Antonio Barrera.

 

Losing your zero to Yomar Álamo is no shame, nor is subsequently losing to Chon Zepeda (which is already kind of step in a crazy direction, since Chon is even better than Yomar), but then continuing to run headlong into the wall against the likes of Josue Vargas and Mauricio Pintor instead of taking it easy with a confidence-building soft touch or two? Man, this kid's handlers did him dirty.

(edit: he's with a small-fry named Terry Hollan, apparently. That'd explain it..)

 

This is a case where he'd be forgiven tabbing some local Uber driver in the place of "TBA".

Just get back in the W column before you lose any leverage whatsoever and become relegated to permanent B-side for the rest of your career.

 

Not sure if the same one @Badbot referred to above or if that fell off and this is a new one, but Kendo is back in action Thursday of next week.

 

Oof...went looking for an update on his non-televised fight tonight and saw this gem he Tweeted earlier today:

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No guys, the fact is that you both were not good enough to defeat an increasingly shot Chon.

Bad take from the kid, and very bad form to have the veteran who knows better reinforce that kind of delusion.