By Ian S Palmer
The MGM Grand in Las Vegas will host a 10-round junior welterweight bout between Jose Zepeda of Long Beach, California and Kendo Castaneda of San Antonio, Texas this Tuesday, July 7th. The fight can be seen live in America on ESPN and ESPN Deportes while Canadian fans can catch the action on TSN. Zepeda’s last outing was a 10-round unanimous decision over Jose Pedraza in September. Castaneda dropped a 10-round majority decision to Yoma Alamo February in his last contest.
Zepeda is a 31-year-old veteran southpaw with a fine mark of 31-2 with 25 Kos. His first loss came to Terry Flanagan when he was stopped in the second round in a shot at the WBO Lightweight Title in July of 2015. Zepeda suffered a dislocated left shoulder and remained on his stool when the bell rang to start the third round. He then dropped a majority decision to WBC Super Lightweight Champion Jose Ramirez in February, 2019 in another world title opportunity.
Zepeda’s 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 70.5 inches and has boxed 131 rounds since turning pro on Christmas Day of 2009. Zepeda’s got good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 71.4 percent. He’s been on the deck before but still owns a pretty solid chin. He won the vacant WBO International Super Lightweight Crown in June of 2017 when he stopped Miguel Zamudio in the sixth round.
He then won the vacant WBA Inter-Continental Lightweight Championship by stopping Carlos Diaz Ramirez in the fifth round a year later. Zepeda has also beaten the likes of Luis Arceo, Emanuel Lopez, Robert Frankel, Victor Manuel Cayo, Armando Robles and Abner Lopez. He’s got plenty of experience and power and was Ramirez’s stiffest pro test up to now.
Castaneda’s a 26-year-old with a solid record of 17-1 with 8 Kos. He’s boxed 91 rounds since making his pro debut in 2012 and his lone career loss came in his last fight in February to Alamo for the WBO NABO Super Lightweight Crown. He doesn’t have much in the way of power however with a current knockout ratio of 42.1 per cent. Castaneda captured the vacant NABA Super Lightweight Title in December, 2018 with a 10-round unanimous decision over Gilbert Venegas Jr.
At 5-feet-10-inches tall, Castaneda has a two-inch height advantage over Zepeda. Unfortunately, there’s no record of his reach. Other than Venegas, Castaneda hasn’t fought any other recognizable opponents as he’s beaten the likes of Jesus Gutierrez, Pedro Amigon, Eudy Bernardo, Stan Martyniouk, Joe Sambrano and John David Charles, so he’ll be taking a pretty big step in class on Tuesday when he faces Zepeda.
Prediction…
Zepeda brings a lot to the ring such as experience and a lot more power and he surprised a lot of fans by bouncing back from his loss to Ramirez with a win over Pedraza. Zepeda’s been in fine form lately and that doesn’t bode too well for Castaneda. This should basically be a routine win for Zepeda but he’ll still need to earn it, not simply show up.
