Ramon Cardenas Delivers KO In Final ProBox Card of 2025

Ramon Cardenas proves he runs with the top dogs at super bantamweight with a knockout win Thursday for ProBox's last card of 2025. Photo: ProBox
Ramon Cardenas proves he runs with the top dogs at super bantamweight with a knockout win Thursday for ProBox's last card of 2025. Photo: ProBox

Ramon Cardenas proved his excellent performance in a competitive loss to Naoya Inoue last May wasn’t just a good night.

“Dinamita” Cardenas of San Antonio (27-2, 15 KOs) capped off the ProBox 2025 schedule with an exclamation point knockout victory in five rounds over Erik “Terrible” Robles of Ensenada, Mexico (16-4, 10 KOs) in the super bantamweight main event at the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Cardenas started patiently, digging with hard shots to the body of the tall southpaw Robles. They worked exactly as intended, softening up the Mexican opponent. He began to swing in an attempt to keep Cardenas off him, and that gave the master counterpuncher the invitation he was looking for.

Cardenas landed a sharp right hand to drop Robles for a knockdown in round three. While there was time left, Cardenas didn’t rush things. He was so in control of the fight that it looked like he wasn’t trying hard enough. The energized crowd had seen several exciting knockouts and action fights on the undercard. They wanted more. Boos were heard.

Once Ramon Cardenas landed the single hard right hook, Erik Robles' night was over. Photo: ProBox
Once Ramon Cardenas landed the single hard right hook, Erik Robles’ night was over. Photo: ProBox

Cardenas gave the fans what they were looking for with a massive right hook to Robles in the fifth round, flattening him for a walk-off win at 1:12 of the round.

Ramon Cardenas: All About Confidence

“The confidence I had in myself, I knew I could get him out of there. I’m not blowing smoke up my ass, but I knew I was at another level,” said Cardenas . He credited his performance to his new team, now working with Manny Robles in Los Angeles, where he is getting sparring from world-class talents, including Junto Nakatani of Japan.

“I owe this performance to my new team. In training, I made sure I was focused when I was hitting the bag or even running. I used to catch myself dozing off. I learned to stay focused from my new trainers. I kept that in my head during the fight.”

Cardenas said he is working on the skills he needs to become a world champion and he has ambitious goals. “I know Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani have their plans. I’d like the winner. I want a title shot against either/or.

“I want to fight the best competition. Coming up in ProBox, you’re used to fighting tough guys, so when you get to that level, you’re ready. When you come back, you must show you belong at that level, and I think I showed that tonight.”

Conceicao Overcomes Injury For Win

In the co-main event, Olympic Gold Medalist Hebert Conceicao of Brazil (10-0, 5 KOs) won a  10-round unanimous decision over Mexican veteran Elias “Latin Kid” Espadas (23-8-1, 16 KOs). Scores were 100-80 twice and 98-91, including a questionable knockdown in the last round.

It was a rough fight for Conceicao, whose superior skills showed as he pummeled Espadas round after round. But Espada refused to yield, and his corner allowed him to continue, even after a bad cut opened over his left eye from a punch in round eight.

Conceicao winced in pain multiple times, appearing to hurt his right hand during the action. There was no confirmation on the injury.

Double Knockdown Delight From James and Martinez

It was a shocker when both Joeshon James and Yojanler Martinez hit the canvas together. They were just as surprised. Photo: ProBox Ramon Cardenas
It was a shocker when both Joeshon James and Yojanler Martinez hit the canvas together. They were just as surprised. Photo: ProBox

Ever seen a double knockdown outside a Rocky movie? If you were watching the ProBox card, you have. In their wild middleweight slugfest, Joeshon “Shontime” James of Sacramento (10-1-2, 5 KOs) got the better of Yojanler Martinez of Cuba (5-1-1, 2 KOs) in a majority decision.

The highlight of the exciting fight was the rare double knockdown in round three. James and Martinez landed two simultaneous right hands, and both dropped to the canvas together. Martinez looked the worse for wear than James, but both got off the deck and made it to the bell after taking the count together from referee Tyrone Parker.

It’s worth a look in slow-motion.

The pair continued to throw and land bombs on each other the rest of the way in a fun fight in ProBox style. James won two cards with scores of 77-74 and 77-73, and the third card had it a draw.

Additional ProBox Results

Super lightweight “Marvelous” Mykquan Williams of Hartford, Connecticut (23-1-2, 12 KOs) scored a fourth-round retirement stoppage of late-notice opponent George “El Lion” Pardo of Bogota, Colombia (11-6, 9 KOs).

Williams had too much firepower for the outgunned Pardo. After being battered relentlessly by Williams, Pardo elected not to come out for the fifth round, making the official verdict a TKO 4 for Williams.

 

Super welterweight Marlon “The Savage” Harrington of Detroit (13-2, 11 KOs) scored a shocking upset first-round one-punch knockout to hand formerly undefeated southpaw Bryan “The Hunter” Polaco of Las Vegas (7-1, 5 KOs) his first loss.

Polaco got off to a good start, opening a cut over Harrington’s left eye a minute into the fight, and seemingly taking control of the action.

Harrington had other plans. With just seven seconds to go in the round, Harrington caught Polaco with a quick check right hook. Polaco hit the canvas out cold. Referee Tyrone Parker didn’t bother to count and immediately waved it off.

In the opening televised fight, super bantamweight Kenyan Valle (2-0, 1 KO) scored an impressive first-round stoppage of Taran Ward (5-15, 3 KOs).